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BELL
TELEPHONE QUARTERLY

VOLUME I, 1922

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INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY

195 Broadway, New York

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BELL TELEPHONE QUARTERLY

VOLUME J, 1922

TABLE OF CONTENTS
APRIL, 1922

Foreword, H. B. Thayer 1

The Radio Telephone Situation, A. H. Griswold 2

The Work of the Bell Telephone Securities Company, D. F.

Houston 13

The Telephone's Development (An Abstract of Verbal Testimony),
./. J. Carty 23

Some Notes on Statistics, S. L.< Andrew 38

Progress of the Joint Committee on Relations of Supply and

Signal Circuits, Bancroft Gherardi 49

Notes on Recent Occurrences 55

Organization Changes 63

JULY, 1922

What Are We Trying To Do?, H. B. Thayer 1

Some Thoughts on Organization and Executive Work, W. S.

Gifford 5

Sleet Storms, A. B. Crunden 14

The Recent Parliamentary Investigation of the Telephone Situ-
ation in Great Britain, S. L. Andrew '. 23

Conference of Personnel Group, Bancroft Gherardi 39

Business Principles in Organization Practice, C. I. Barnard. ... 44
Progress in Cooperation with the National Electric Light As-
sociation, H . P. Charlesworth 49

Technical Papers Published During Quarter Just Ended 51

Notes on Recent Occurrences 54

OCTOBER, 1922

Ideals of the Telephone Service, J. J. Carty 1

Notes on Radio, 0. B. Blackwell 12

Service in the Making, A'. W. Waterson 26

Poles, F. L. Rhodes 34

World's Telephone Statistics, S. L. Andrew 45

Abstracts of Recent Technical Papers from Bell System Sources. 55

Notes on Recent Occurrences 62

4

Single Copy, 50c

$1.50 per Year

Bell
Telephone Quarterly

APRIL, 1922

Contents

Foreword H.B. Thayer

The Radio Telephone Situation . . A. H. Griswold

The Work op the Bell Telephone
Securities Company D. F. Houston

The Telephone's Development (An
Abstract of Verbal Testimony) . .J.J. Carty

Some Notes on Statistics S. L. Andrew

Progress of the Joint Committee on
Relations op Supply and Signal
Circuits Bancroft Gherardi

Notes on Recent Occurrences . . .

Organization Changes

/si

American Telephone and Telegraph Company

New York

Bell Telephone Quarterly

A MEDIUM OF SUGGESTION
AND A RECORD OF PROGRESS

Published quarterly for the Bell System by the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company

Subscription, $1.50 per year, in United States and Canada; single copies, 50 cents

Address all communications to

INFORMATION DEPARTMENT

AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY

195 Broadway, New York

Vol. I APRIL, 1922 No. ]

Foreword

BEING a young, active and progressive institution,
the Bell Telephone System is continually doing
new things, sometimes in service to the public,
sometimes in operating technique, sometimes in com-
mercial policy. The new thing may be done in any part
of the country. These new things are interesting to
telephone men in other parts of the country. If they are
experiments in service or technique and are successful,
they ultimately become generally known by being
standardized and covered by specifications and de-
scribed in bulletins. There are some even more im-
portant innovations, interesting even in the nebulous
state and more so as they become accomplished facts,
which the presidents and general officers would like to
observe during the experimental period. I refer to the
type of things which we have usually discussed in con-
ferences of presidents and general managers. As a
medium of suggestion, a report of progress and perhaps
an announcement of results on matters of that type
between conferences, we launch with this number the
Bell Telephone Quarterly.

H. B. Thayer.

[1]

The Radio Telephone Situation

RADIO today is a magic word throughout the
country and, like anything else occupying head-
^ lines, much has been said of it, both good and
bad, which it has not rightfully deserved.

What is radio? While it would probably take volumes
to give a complete explanation of radio, yet perhaps it
can be briefly explained in the following manner.

In the ordinary alternating current electric light and
power circuit, such as used to furnish light to homes and
power to factories, the periodicity of the electrical current
is almost universally sixty cycles per second. In other
words, there are sixty complete reversals of the electrical
current every second. At this low periodicity or frequency
practically all of the electrical energy is confined to the
wire system and none of it radiated into space. However,
by sufficiently increasing the frequency or period of
oscillation of an electrical circuit and by suitable circuit
arrangements a large proportion of the electrical energy
generated may be radiated into space as electro-magnetic
waves. These electro-magnetic waves travel through
space with the speed of light and have frequencies varying
from around 15,000 to several million cycles per second.

In order to transmit a telephone message by radio
the amplitude of the high frequency waves sent out is
made to vary in accordance with the variation of current
produced by the voice in an ordinary telephone circuit.
The problem of producing these high frequency electrical
waves and of thus controlling them by telephone currents
has been solved in a satisfactory manner only by means
of the three-electrode vacuum tube.

During our development of the vacuum tube in con-
nection with the telephone repeater, we found that it
was possible to make larger and more powerful tubes
which could be used for radio telephony, and it was this
development that brought about the memorable and re-
markable experiments of 1915, when we talked by radio
to Paris, San Francisco and Honolulu. Subsequently

[2]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

the laboratories of the Bell System have diligently con-
tinued their development and research work, until today
the fundamentals of radio telephone communication are
fairly well established, and the kind of equipment neces-
sary is generally known, although it has not been com-
mercially produced except for such real uses as have been
found in the field of telephone communication.

The Patent Situation

At the same time development by others of radio and
allied equipment was taking place and, as might be ex-
pected, it was not long before it was found that the patent
situation was considerably involved and that the public
would be unable to obtain the full benefits of radio unless
some arrangement could be made between the holders of
the patent rights which would permit of unhampered
development. Accordingly, at the request of the United
States Government, the General Electric Company and
the American Telephone and Telegraph Company entered
into a cross-license patent agreement, effective as of July
1, 1920. In general, by this agreement the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company received licenses in
the field of commercial and public service radio telephony,
while the General Electric Company received licenses in
the field of amateur radio telephony and all radio
telegraphy.

Following the execution of the principal agreement
between the American Telephone and Telegraph Company
and the General Electric Company an extension agree-
ment was entered into whereby the General Electric
Company may extend to the Radio Corporation of
America any of the licenses which the General Electric
Company received under the principal agreement, and
likewise the American Telephone and Telegraph Company
may extend to the Western Electric Company any of the
licenses which the American Telephone and Telegraph
Company received under the principal agreement. Sub-
sequently, the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing

[3]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Company, who also had been at work in the radio field,
entered into the agreement in the same patent license
fields as the General Electric Company and Radio Cor-
poration of America.

Prior to all this, the Radio Corporation of America
had been formed, had taken over the interests of the
Marconi Company in the United States and had entered
into an agreement with the General Electric Company
whereby it acquired rights to use and sell all radio equip-
ment which the General Electric Company was licensed
to manufacture.

The situation today, therefore, is as follows:
In general, radio telephone equipment for commercial
or public service uses is provided by the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company or through its manu-
facturer, the Western Electric Company. Amateur radio
telephone equipment, radio telephone broadcasting re-
ceiving sets, and radio telegraph equipment are manu-
factured by the General Electric Company and West-
inghouse Company and are sold through the Radio Cor-
poration. The underlying principle throughout this
cross-licensing agreement is to insure and make available
to the public the complete development of radio.

Radio Telephony a Supplement to and Not a
Substitute for Wire Service

The interest of the Bell System in radio lies in what-
ever application it may have to the possible future
development of telephone services. In the Bell System
or any other system based on sound economic principles,
the fundamental consideration in any communication
problem is the provision of the type of facilities which
will give the best and most economical service to meet
the particular set of conditions involved. In this there
is made no distinction between wires and radio, as the
premise is the proper type of communication and the con-
clusion may be wires or radio. However, it happens that
the inherent features of radio telephony are such that

[4J

Bell Telephone Quarterly

it has no economic or service application in the United
States, or in any other place where conditions are similar,
except as a supplement or auxiliary, in certain instances,
to the wire service, but in no case a substitute therefor.
The real applications of radio are in communications
across wide stretches of water, in ship to ship, in ship to
shore, in airships to land, in possibly some other types
of mobile stations, in some forms of broadcasting where
the same communication is given simultaneously to a
large number of people, and in remote cases where, due to
geographical or other conditions, it is impossible or im-
practicable to place wire lines. All of these applications
will be recognized as supplements to the regular wire
service and not substitutes for them. For the regular
telephone services both local and long distance, for which
wires are now so extensively employed in the United
States, the limitations of radio are such that it cannot be
used.

Radio Telephony Can Never Replace
Universal Wire Service

The general telephone communication goal in the
United States is universal service. This is merely a brief
way of saying that any person, anywhere, at any time,
can quickly, reliably and at a reasonable cost, talk with
any other person anywhere else in the United States,
and for this talk these two persons will have available
facilities for their personal, private and uninterrupted
use. Radio does not meet these requirements. It pro-
vides unguided transmission, sending out its message
broadcast to anyone within range properly equipped to
receive it, while wires, although they came first in scien-
tific development, really represent the refinement of the
art and provide guided transmission directed only to the
person for whom intended. Scientifically it is actually
more remarkable that we are able to guide messages by
means of wires than to send them out broadcast by radio.

The number of communications which can be trans-
mitted simultaneously by radio is narrowly limited.

[5]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Daily over 60,000,000 telephone calls take place over
wires in the United States. In New York City 4,000,000
calls are handled per day and 100,000 calls per minute
during the busy hours. The facilities of the ether within
any reasonable practical range are so limited that but a
very small fractional part of such an enormous volume of
messages could be handled by radio. Further, the real
applications of radio as hereinbefore outlined will un-
doubtedly demand greater facilities than the ether will
afford and it is certainly desirable that the ether be con-
served for such real and necessary uses. If this is not
done, it will be almost hopeless to expect that satis-
factory service can be given even in the real fields of
radio.

The cost of radio equipment and operation for uni-
versal service would be enormous. The investment of
the Bell System in the United States today is less than
$200 per subscriber's station, including both local and
long distance lines, and comprehending all the poles,
wires, cable, conduit, equipment, land, buildings and
accessories of the entire system. It is impossible to con-
ceive at any cost any form of radio equipment
which would provide the same universal telephone
service.

However, suppose an attempt were made to set up such
a radio service. It can be imagined to be along either of
two lines: First, the apparatus at each subscriber's
premises might be kept as simple as possible, and ar-
ranged only to connect that subscriber to a central office
in a manner similar to that by which each subscriber is
now connected by wire. Second, by making the sub-
scriber's apparatus more complicated, the subscriber
might be given apparatus enabling him to directly connect
with other stations in his vicinity, and he would reach
more distant subscribers by connecting to a central office.
It is impossible to imagine any arrangement so compre-
hensive as to enable him to directly reach all other
subscribers.

In the first case his apparatus would consist of both

[6]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

transmitting and receiving equipment with suitable signal-
ing and power apparatus and with some form of antenna.
It would need to be much more complete and reliable
than any of the present simple forms of amateur equip-
ment. In this case the radio equipment would merely
take the place of the wire connection between the sub-
scriber and the central office, but the cost of the radio
equipment would be much greater than the total cost per
subscriber of the entire existing telephone wire plant.
In addition central offices and trunks, involving very
expensive and elaborate radio apparatus, would be re-
quired to complete the connections.

On the second assumption, part of the central office
expenditures would be avoided, but the cost of the
apparatus at each subscriber's station would run into
thousands of dollars, and in addition a considerable part
of the central office expenditures would still be necessary.

For long distance service radio has a more favorable
application than it has for local service, but again it is
found here that both in first cost and subsequent cost of
operation it is many times more expensive than for wire
circuits and does not approach them in reliability or free-
dom from interference and is not secret.

Thus the cost of a complete radio plant for either
local or long distance service or both is far in excess of
the corresponding wire plant, and not only is the first
cost of radio equipment greater than for wire equipment,
but the experience to date indicates that the cost of oper-
ation of radio is greater per dollar of investment than for
wire plant. This means that radio telephone service,
even if it were possible, must have rates, in order to pay
the costs of operation, many times greater than charged
for the present wire service.

From the above it is evident that the cost of radio
service would be excessive and that the character of the
very limited service which could be given by radio would
be so far inferior to the service now given over wires that
the general public, even if they could afford to pay for
it, would not tolerate it.

[7]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

The words of the Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Hoover,
at the recent Radio Conference in Washington are inter-
esting and to the point:

"I think it will be agreed at the outset that the use
of the radio telephone for communication between single
individuals as in the case of the ordinary telephone is a
perfectly hopeless notion."

Some Present Applications of Radio Telephony

Let us then consider some of the applications of radio
telephony which in the present state of the art can now be
foreseen. Between moving vehicles, ships, ships and shore,
airships and ground, and similar classes of services radio
telephony has an application. All of these are possible
fields, and as time goes on, it may be expected that they
will be developed into useful auxiliaries to the wire service.
Recently interesting and successful experiments on ship
to shore transmission were conducted with the United
States Steamship America, operating by radio in connec-
tion with our Deal Beach radio station and thence over
land wires to New York and other points. These tests
showed that ship to shore service is possible but whether
or not it is established as a commercial service must
necessarily depend upon its value, which must be great
enough to make the service self-sustaining.

Transoceanic wireless telephony is, of course pos-
sible, as was demonstrated by us in 1915. However,
[he present costs are very great and before it can be
generally employed, the commercial value, as in the case
of ship to shore, will have to be determined and assured.
A factor operating seriously against such service is the
great difference in time between countries located widely
apart.

Broadcasting

One of the most interesting applications of radio
telephony is that of broadcasting, which is not intercom-
munication but a one-way service. It is in this field

[8]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

that radio, by virtue of its inherent nature, seems to have
great possibilities. At the present time broadcasting is
being done by various departments of the Government,
by certain manufacturers or agents of radio apparatus,
by experimenters, by newspapers, and until recently by
amateurs. The existing broadcasting transmitting sta-
tions are operating in the particular interest of the
owners of such stations and are not providing broadcast-
ing transmitting service for the use of the public in
general. The American Telephone and Telegraph Com-
pany controls the important patents on radio telephone
broadcasting transmitting equipment for general public
use and consequently is being besieged with requests to
sell radio telephone broadcasting equipment or to pro-
vide radio telephone broadcasting service. We are selling
the broadcasting equipment and so many of these requests
have been received that it has become apparent that if
every one who desires his own broadcasting equipment
should purchase it, there will soon be so many broadcast-
ing stations all operating on the same or a comparatively
few number of wave lengths that real service from any
of them will be impossible. Accordingly, we are now
establishing in New York on the Walker-Lispenard
building a broadcasting station of the latest and best
type known to the art. It is not planned that we put on
any program ourselves but rather provide the facilities
over which others may broadcast at specified rates. We
could doubtless provide and broadcast a splendid pro-
gram, but by such a procedure we would be inviting the
public to purchase receiving equipment in order to hear
our program and we would be committed to the indefinite
continuance of a service for which no revenues would be
received. By providing facilities for the use of others
it rests with those who broadcast to furnish a class of
program to which the general public will desire to listen.
It is thought that in this manner the true attitude of the
public toward broadcasting may be determined, as it is
realized that at present the public is in a more or less
optimistic state of mind and that broadcasting must be

[9]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

placed on a much more sound basis if it is to remain as
a valuable service.

If the experimental broadcasting station in New York
is commercially successful, it is our plan to establish, as
circumstances warrant, similar stations throughout the
country, and not only may each station have available
for use in connection with it all of the local lines in the
zone served by that station but also at some future
time it may be possible that all of such broadcasting
stations throughout the country may, if conditions
warrant, be tied together by the long line plant, so that
any one, from practically any point, may use any num-
ber or all of these stations simultaneously if he so desires.
It is our thought that only in this manner can the best,
cheapest, and most extensive radio broadcasting service
be given.

It should be understood that this service will not
react to the exclusion of private or other broadcasting
service and will not necessarily in any way directly dis-
place such services. However, it is obvious that every
one cannot own his own broadcasting equipment, and
unless some provision for service such as we have outlined
is made, only a limited number of people in the country
will have broadcasting service available for their use.

Present Laws and Proposed Regulations

The present radio laws, which were made originally
in 1905 and later modified in 1912 and adopted by Con-
gress, cover principally the international situation with
reference to radio telegraphy, as radio telephone service
was not practicable at that time. With the rapid de-
velopment of radio telephony, particularly since the war,
there has been a strong realization that the present radio
laws are entirely inadequate for the present situation and
not only is the international communication question
now under consideration but also the national problem.
During February the Secretary of Commerce appointed
a Committee to consider radio telephone matters. This

[10]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Committee first met on February 27th and has been care-
fully considering the requirements for radio telephony
with the idea, through subsequent legislation, of provid-
ing space in the ether for the necessary and real services.
It is proposed in the preliminary report of the Secretary's
Committee that a large part of the available space in the
ether be set aside for various kinds of broadcasting, with
a small reservation for ship to shore, for transoceanic
and for fixed station service. The temporary assignments
which the Committee have suggested for the desirable
uses of radio are naturally limited by the ether and by
the character of practical apparatus so that no one of the
services will probably receive as full an allotment as
might be desired.

It is hoped that the proposed legislation will provide
reservations in the ether for what now seems to be the
possible applications of radio telephony to the public
service in order that these applications may have an op-
portunity for development along proper lines. It is also
desirable that there be established and maintained a
rigid regulation of radio matters with the end in view that
prime consideration will always be given to the necessary
and essential uses of radio.

The Bell System and Radio

While we have important exclusive rights protected
by patents, our interest in the extension of our field of
service overshadows any interest in any patent or group
of patents. Above all, we do not want to obstruct the
work or play of scientists and amateurs. Progress fol-
lows experiment and use. In this new art we should
experiment and encourage the experiments of others but
without prejudice to later enforcement of our rights if
and when such enforcement becomes necessary to the
efficiency of a public service.

The question of most interest in the Bell System is
naturally — "What do we propose to do with radio?"
We propose to keep in mind our main purpose which is

[11]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

to furnish to the people of the United States as wide a
range of communication facilities as possible. It may
mean service with ships, railway trains and airplanes.
It may mean a transatlantic service, but promises cannot
now be made. It may mean broadcasting, the future
of which cannot be determined as yet. It should be
remembered that radio telephony, with its scope definitely
limited by natural conditions, has only reached an ele-
mentary stage, even in its possible fields. Bearing in
mind our fundamental policy of providing the best and
most economical type of facilities to meet any given set of
conditions, we shall continue our work of developing
whatever possibilities there are for radio in the field of
telephone communications.

A. H. Griswold.

[12]

The Work of the Bell Telephone
Securities Company

THE Bell Telephone Securities Company is the
latest addition to the group of companies which
form the Bell System. The purpose of its organ-
ization is stated in the Annual Report of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company for 1921, and I need
not set it forth at length here. It will be sufficient to
say that its main function is to disseminate information
about Bell System securities to the public, particularly
to Bell telephone users, and, when desired, to advise in-
terested investors and to facilitate their transactions in
Bell System securities, and thereby to aid in securing a
more widely distributed ownership.

Even now there is a wide ownership of the stock and
other securities of the Bell System. The savings of sev-
eral hundred thousand men and women throughout the
country have gone into the building of the Bell telephone
plant. But it will require the savings of many new in-
vestors to take care of future extensions. The demands
for service now are heavy and they will continue with the
growth of the telephone habit and with increases in
population and business.

There are today over 197,000 stockholders of the
American Company. The increase has been steady and
rapid. In 1900 there were only 7,500 stockholders; ten
years later the number had risen to 20,400; by 1915 it
was 65,500; and at the end of 1921 it was 186,342. The
wide distribution of the shares among individuals is re-
vealed by the fact that 29 was their average holding;
176,085 stockholders owning less than 100 shares
each.

Largely because of the fact that the telephone was
invented in Boston and first financed in that locality, the
Bell System and its securities are better known and under-
stood, and the holdings are largest in New England and
New York which today owns approximately 74% of it.

[13]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

As the service has been extended, the ownership has
spread; but it is desirable to increase this distribution
still further. Very many more people over the Nation,
who are the Company's customers, can and should acquire
some of its stock. They can buy the stock in the market
at a price which gives a reasonable return, and this is
the only way in which those who are not now stockholders
and are not employees can secure the stock.

This wider distribution of Bell System securities
will add to the number of those who have safe invest-
ments. Customers who became shareholders, will take an
interest in the Bell Telephone Companies and will ac-
quire an understanding of their problems and needs.
It will also lay broader financial foundations for the Bell
System, and will aid it to secure, at a lower cost, the money
needed for extensions of the service.

Money Required for Extensions

It is clearly to the interest of the public, no less than
to that of the System, that the latter's financial structure
should be strong. It takes much money annually to pro-
vide for its new business. The requirements of the people
for telephone facilities imposes the task upon the System
of providing approximately $215,000,000 each year for
additions and replacements. These requirements cannot
be ignored. They must be met. The sum involved is
huge even to people who recently have been taught to
think in billions. Think of it in this way and the meaning
of it can be grasped: The Bell Telephone System must
provide more money each year, to give the public the
facilities it demands, than any government in Europe,
except those of Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Austria
and Italy, expended annually for all public purposes before
the Great War. The sum is greater than the yearly pre-
war expenditures of Spain, Brazil, Argentina, or Canada.
It is much greater than the present annual expenditure
of New York State. It is not much less than the
expenditure of Japan in 1913, and it is two and a half

[14]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

times that of the United States the year before the Civil
War.

The greater part of the sum needed annually must be
secured through the sale of stocks or other securities;
and the System's financial condition must be such as to
attract the funds of investors. No pressure can be
brought to bear upon them. The Company cannot,
like governments, secure funds through any compulsory
process.

It is not contemplated that the plans to promote
customer ownership and to secure a wider distribution
of securities, will provide a substitute for former methods
of raising new capital, but rather that they will sup-
plement and facilitate them. It is expected, however,
that they will result in substantial additions to the sum of
money secured in other ways, and, especially, that they
will promote better relationships.

The First Campaign Succeeds

The organization of the Securities Company was com-
pleted, and the Company was ready to enter upon the
tasks assigned to it on September 15, 1921. Before
this date, there had been under consideration a campaign
for the sale by the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company
of $2,500,000 of 7% cumulative preferred stock. In a
comparatively short time the requisite plans were
completed.

The territory of the Southwestern Company is very
large, and it was recognized that the task of organizing
it would be exceedingly heavy. It was determined to
organize it piece-meal and to make haste slowly. It was
recognized that the economic conditions of the territory
were not satisfactory. In fact, in certain financial
quarters, we were assured that there was little or no
money in that territory seeking investment and especially
in a 7% stock to be sold at par. The Southwest is largely
agricultural, and it was well-known that the farmers,
especially the cattlemen, were hard hit. The oil boom

[15]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

had collapsed; and the lumber industry was much de-
pressed. Still, the officers both of the Southwestern
Bell and of the Securities Company, were confident
that reasonable success could be obtained.

The territory finally selected for beginning operations
was in the division embracing Houston, Galveston and
Beaumont. Contacts were established with local banks
and investment houses, all of which expressed confi-
dence in the Company and its security and willingness
to cooperate. Meetings of the employees were held in
each of the cities. Circulars were distributed and the
requisite advertising matter was inserted in the leading
papers. Immediately following the organization of this
division, attention was directed to Kansas and to the
development of the work in that State. Later the other
divisions in Texas were organized. On November 21,
1921, the machinery was set in motion in Eastern Mis-
souri, especially in St. Louis, and subsequently was
extended throughout Missouri, and about the beginning
of the new year the necessary steps were taken to begin
the selling of the stock in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

On an average for the entire Southwestern territory,
the campaign ran approximately three months and a
half and the entire amount of the authorized issue was sold
before March 25.

In this campaign, 25,000 shares of preferred stock
were disposed of to approximately 6,500 people, the
average number of shares sold to each purchaser being
less than four. It is interesting and significant that at
a time of great depression, so many individuals were able
to save and willing to invest $2,500,000 in securities, and
by doing so, to assist in providing additional facilities
for their own use. These communities gain from being
able to retain this sum of money at home for construction
purposes, and the individuals gain from their investment
in a sound security yielding a reasonable return. The
Company welcomes the investors as stockholders, whose
cooperation it will have in rendering the best possible
service at the lowest possible cost.

[16]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Typical and Instructive Incidents

Many interesting incidents occurred in connection
with the sale of this stock. At Wichita Falls, Texas, a
blind man purchased five shares of stock from a girl
teller in the commercial office. When first told about
the stock, the man said he had read nothing about it
because he was blind. The girl then told the story of
the Southwestern Company's 7% preferred stock, which
interested the blind man very much. However, he left
without signing the purchase contract. The next day he
returned. He asked for the same girl and had her make
out a check for his signature covering the payment on
five shares. The following day he appeared and asked
for the General Manager. He was taken to the Local
Manager, to whom he said: "I am now an owner of your
Company. I have found out that my next-door neighbor
has been trying to get telephone service for over three
months. As an owner of your Company I would like to
know why you have not furnished him the service." The
Local Manager saw an opportunity to clear up a situation.
He explained that there were no telephone facilities in
the neighborhood at that time and that a special in-
stallation in' advance of the completion of the regular
construction, which was under way, would cost $400 or
$500. The blind man got the story thoroughly. He
slapped the desk emphatically and said: "As one of the
owners of this Company I would not let you give that
man service at such an installation cost. I will go back
there and explain to him that he should wait until your
new cable is installed."

In another Texas town, a prominent citizen had a
prejudice against corporations in general. A telephone
man was at his residence repairing his telephone, and
when the job was finished, attempted to sell Telephone
Preferred to the gentleman's wife. During the conver-
sation, her husband came in and listened attentively.
Finally he told the telephone man that if all the public
service companies' employees were as interested and as

[17]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

loyal as he, the companies would never have any trouble
with the public, the commissions or the courts.

An encouraging result as the campaign progressed
was the change of attitude in the financial quarters
previously mentioned. After our campaign had been
running a few weeks, an offer was made to underwrite
$2,500,000 of the issue. This was not accepted, but
investment houses were allotted $1,000,000 to sell on
the same commission as that paid to telephone em-
ployees. Other underwriting offers were made by eastern
bankers.

The attitude of the banks was decidedly friendly.
Many of them made direct sales; all spoke well of the
stock when investors sought information from them.
They recognized that our partial-payment plan fosters
thrift and thus helps the community. The friendly
attitude of the banks increased the feeling of confidence
among their patrons and had a most helpful reaction
throughout the territory.

Wisconsin Makes a Record

The next large task of the Securities Company was
undertaken in cooperation with the Wisconsin Telephone
Company. That Company planned to sell $5,000,000
7% Cumulative Preferred Stock. The resulting campaign
which has just closed with an over-subscription of several
hundred thousand dollars, is a pointed example of the
working out of the formula —

Preparation + Enthusiasm = Success.

In the Wisconsin territory, which is compact, an
intensive plan was adopted. Work was to begin March
1st and to last from six to eight weeks. Of the issue
of $5,000,000, it was hoped to seU $4,000,000 during the
campaign, and the remainder during the next few months.
Every employee had a place in the selling organization;
the necessary routines and forms were ready; and pub-
licity material was prepared and ready for distribution.
But on February 22nd and 23rd the State was swept

[18]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

by the worst sleet storm in its history. Over 10,000
telephone poles went down, and all forms of transpor-
tation were paralyzed.

Because of the damage, the derangement of traffic,
and the necessary resulting work of restoration, which
fully occupied the Wisconsin Company's plant forces,
it was announced that the opening day would be post-
poned until March 6. However, some of the material
was already in employees' hands, and the banks had
started their publicity work, so it was decided to let
those go ahead who could do so. Under these severe
handicaps, the Wisconsin Company made advance sales
of $3,100,000 worth of stock; and before the end of the
fourth day after the formal opening (March 9th, to be
exact), the entire $5,000,000 had been over-subscribed.
Approximately two-thirds of the stock was sold for cash;
employees sold a little more than half the issue; the sales
averaged less than five shares for each purchaser; and as
a result, the Wisconsin Company has about eleven
thousand new stockholders.

While, of course, no pressure was brought to bear
on any employees to make sales, yet the fact that every-
one was assigned to a definite place in the campaign
organization was a great impetus to them. A quota of
6 shares for every employee was used in figuring the
quotas of the various exchanges; and on this basis, 22
out of 80 exchanges had "gone over the top" in the first
four days. Oconomowoc, the first one to pass its quota,
did so by four o'clock the first day announced for the
opening of the campaign. Its quota was 132 shares
and up to Friday night, March 3, it had sold 404
shares.

In his comment on the campaign, President McGovern
says: "One of the outstanding features of this sale is that
many people did not seem to look into the real merits of
the stock, but relied very largely on what our people said
to them. Of course, the fact that most all the banks in
the State are favorable to our stock proposition, has very
materially assisted in the sales."

[19]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Fine Public Relations

As in the Southwest, so in Wisconsin, there were
happenings which reveal not only the enthusiasm and
enterprise of the employees but also the good-will of the
people and the satisfactory relations which such a cam-
paign establishes.

At Oshkosh, one of the linemen was very much dis-
couraged because he thought that he would be unable
to make any sales. His spirit was good, but he was
afraid that stock selling was too complicated for him.
The plant supervisor did his best to encourage him, but
apparently with little success. The next day the lineman
came in smiling and said that on his way home he had
stopped in to have his shoes repaired and had sold the
cobbler $2,500 worth of stock with very little effort.

Early in the course of the campaign, a charwoman
working for the Company, who spoke very broken English,
came to the desk where telephone bills are paid and with-
out any comment handed in five $20 bills. The teller
asked her what the money was for. She replied in rather
broken English: "Stock — corner grocer." After a great
deal of difficulty it developed that the charwoman had
sold a share of the stock to a corner grocer, had col-
lected $100, and had not even given him a contract or
receipt.

The first share of stock in the Wisconsin campaign
was sold by Miss Bond. This sale was made to an
invalid woman, who had read the Company's announce-
ment of the sale of stock and telephoned in, asking to
have someone come out and explain it to her. Miss
Bond responded and had no difficulty in answering the
woman's questions and in making the sale.

In a certain section of Milwaukee, there is a German
shopkeeper who is very influential in his community, and
who has generally been opposed to the Wisconsin Com-
pany. On the whole, he has been rather anti-corporation.
One day this storekeeper telephoned in to the security
manager's office and asked him to send a number of stock

[20]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

application blanks to his shop. In explanation, he said
that his friends and customers were coming in to his store,
that they were discussing the stock, that he thought they
ought to be purchasing some, and that he wanted a supply
of blanks for them.

The success of this campaign evidences not only the
confidence of the people of Wisconsin in the Wisconsin
Telephone Company but also their thrift and their readi-
ness to invest their savings in sound securities.

Pointing Out the Desirability of American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Stock

A third undertaking of a slightly different type is
that in cooperation with the Chesapeake & Potomac
Telephone Company in the District of Columbia, West
Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia, and the Bell Telephone
Company of Pennsylvania, embracing Pennsylvania,
Delaware and the southern part of New Jersey, to secure
a wider distribution of American Telephone and Tele-
graph stock in those territories. I have already pointed
out that it is desired especially to interest the users of the
Bell telephone throughout the Nation, in the stock of the
American Company. New stock of this Company, when
issued, can be offered only to stockholders, and, under
certain regulations, to employees; and the only way in
which others can secure the stock, is either by purchasing
rights, or by buying the stock at the market. In the
territories of the Chesapeake & Potomac Company and
of the Bell of Pennsylvania, through the employees
of the Company with the cooperation of banks, the at-
tention of subscribers was called to the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company stock. Steps were taken
to furnish them full information concerning its invest-
ment value, and it was indicated that arrangements could
be made in many cases, if it was desired, for them to
pay for the stock in installments. The undertaking has
met with a very hospitable reception and large response.
Many who were not acquainted with the stock and its

[21]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

value, welcomed an opportunity to know about it and to
invest their savings. It is estimated that as a result of
this work there will be a net gain in these districts of
between 3,500 and 4,000 non-employee stockholders of
the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, pur-
chasing from 35,000 to 37,000 shares.

It is clearly desirable that investors throughout the
Nation be informed concerning the securities of the Bell
System, their safety, and how they can be acquired.
Numerous inquiries alone indicate that it is desirable to
spread such information. The Securities Company is
therefore planning to keep before the people of each
community by means of window cards, bill enclosures,
and in certain cases through advertisements or circulars,
the kind of Bell S}Tstem securities which subscribers might
interest themselves in, and the steps they should take to
purchase them. As the securities must be purchased in
the open market, we plan to have the purchaser file his
order, to assist him in securing its execution with the
minimum delay and expense through a bank or a responsi-
ble broker with which he may wish to deal, and in certain
cases, where payment in installments is desired, to assist
him in arranging with some bank to handle the trans-
action.

These, and other activities of the Securities Company
which will develop along appropriate lines as circum-
stances suggest, will involve in most cases close coopera-
tion with the Associated Companies and the intelligent
and enthusiastic participation of their employees. These
things we know that we can always confidently count
upon; for the keynote of the Bell System is teamwork
and high consideration for the Company's welfare as well
as for that of the American people whom it serves.

D. F. Houston.

[22]

The Telephone's Development

Some of the early history of the development of the
telephone art as freely edited from the verbal testimony of
John J. Carty, Vice President of American Telephone and
Telegraph Company, in charge of development and research,
before the Public Service Commission, State of New York,
at Albany, New York, March 15, 1922.

IN the beginning of the development of the telephone
art — when the telephone was first being introduced
to the public — all that there was to the telephone
system was a couple of telephones and the principle upon
which the telephone could work. That principle was
known. There were two telephones that would barely
work and there was about 100 feet of wire tying them to-
gether. It was almost impossible to hear through the in-
strument even in the next room. In fact, it was said by
some that you could not hear at all, but speech was trans-
mitted. That was all that there was to start with and
all that was known about the telephone was known by
Mr. Bell and Mr. Watson. Watson was the man who
made the original telephone, the man who heard the
first words; Bell was the one who spoke them; and
between them those two men knew all there was about
the telephone and nobody else in the world anywhere
knew anything about it. That is what we had to start with.
Attempts were made to talk over an actual line and
finally talking was accomplished from Boston to Cam-
bridge; but there were no signalling devices and no tele-
phone circuits as we know them now, so that to start
with they copied the telegraph line, which was a line of
iron wire run upon house-tops and using the ground as an
earth return.

To illustrate how little was known about telephoning
at that time: a copy of the instrument exhibited by Bell
at the Philadelphia Centennial, in 1876, was taken to

[23]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

England by Sir William Thomson who was the greatest
scientist of the time. When it reached England it was
somewhat damaged and there was nobody there that
could make it work.

The instruments were soon modified into a little differ-
ent type so that talking could be accomplished over a line,
say, a mile or two long. It was necessary to talk and
listen through the same instrument, there being no special
transmitter then, but the telephone was put to the mouth
and then to the ear alternately. It was soon found that
while the telegraph line worked very well for telegraph
it did not work well for telephone because of all sorts of
difficulties, noises and cross-talk from telegraph circuits
lightning storms and other serious disturbances.

There were no telephone switchboards and the early
switchboards were telegraph switchboards used to change
a line once a day or so without any regard to speed. The
telephone switchboard must change the switching of the
lines hundreds of times a day. The problems are quite
different. There was no cable of the telephone type that
was satisfactory. A half a mile or a mile of the cable was
more than these instruments could talk through. For
several years the instrument was regarded, and with
much reason, as but a scientific toy without business
importance. In those places where we succeeded in
getting it in business houses, it was largely through favor
rather than on the merits of the instruments and it was
regarded as a business nuisance and a scientific toy.

With the art in such a miserable state and so much
unknown, and such a multitude of difficulties it was found
very difficult to make any business arrangements at all
to get it introduced because conservative and capable
business institutions felt that it was entirely speculative.
The plan adopted was to induce individuals in different
localities to take out licenses, the object being to intro-
duce the telephone throughout every part of the United
States. All through the country licenses were issued to
small concerns, men, of course, who had no experience
whatever in the business and with absolutely no knowl-

[24]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

edge of it, but who were attracted by its novelty and by
the arguments that were made to get them to come in.

Difficulties were encountered by everybody who un-
dertook to install the telephone — by all of the licensees —
and they knew nothing about the troubles or their remedy,
or whether there was a remedy or not. They were con-
stantly appealing to the licensor company for help and
arrangements were made to render the service required
to give them help in their problems. Laboratories, in
which Dr. Bell and Watson worked and in which they
invented the telephone, were taken over and Mr. Watson
was put in charge and the staff was begun. They first
thought that perhaps medical men who knew all about
the ear and the voice might be ab'.e to solve these prob-
lems but they could give no help whatever, although the
best of them were consulted. The company then went to
professors of physics. There were no professors of
electrical engineering at that time because there wasn't
any such thing as an electrical engineer, or electrical
engineering.

But they gathered together the very best men that
could be obtained at that time to advise the licensees,
not only on the technical side, but on legal questions,
on questions of how to keep books in this new sort of
business and other problems that arose. So that there
started and grew up at once a nucleus of what is now
often referred to as the staff at headquarters, being the
general staff. They were what we might now call liaison
officers, to obtain the best understanding with the licen-
sees and help them out the best way.

Transmitter and Receiver Development

For a long time there was no real transmitter as we
know it, it being necessary to use what we now call the
receiver for talking as well as for listening. The first
instruments did not have any permanent magnet so it
was impossible to use an ordinary telephone receiver with-
out carrying around a battery with it. One of the im-

[25]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

portant steps was to introduce a permanent magnet.
The receiver passed through the stage to where, I suppose,
we tried out thousands of different types, many thousands
of different models, and a few years ago, I counted up the
number that were actually made standard and there were
about 50 different types that had been standardized from
time to time and then superseded by others.

Early transmitters were what we call magneto. There
was no battery at all. It was just like talking through
the telephone receiver and they were very lacking in
power and it was possible to talk for onry a short distance.
Then came the battery transmitter, invented by Blake,
the use of which was a very revolutionary step forward,
but with the need for greater and greater distances of
talking over longer and longer wires, it became necessary
to have transmitters that were more and more effective.
The transmitter of Blake was superseded, after passing
through a long series of evolutions itself, by what is known
as the granular carbon transmitter which, instead of fixed
pieces of carbon working against a piece of platinum, uses
granules of carbon that are actuated by the diaphragm.
The original granular carbon transmitter came from a
minister of some church in England, the Reverend Mr.
Hunning. The Bell Company bought his patent and a
long series of experiments was undertaken and finally
the idea of Hunning was made available for the public.
He would not have known his own transmitter.

From the Hunning transmitter has been developed
the transmitter that is now used universally in this
country and is also the standard all over the world wher-
ever they have the best instruments. Of course, even
now we are constantly working to perfect these instru-
ments still further. Something over 70 types of trans-
mitter have been made standard from time to time and
replaced by others.

Improving Transmission

In the beginning it was necessary to use a telegraph
line, which was made of iron. The iron and the telegraph

[26]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

construction worked very well indeed for the telegraph,
but it did not work so well for the telephone, because the
telephone was the most sensitive instrument known and
it was capable of being actuated by very minute currents
that would not interfere with the telegraph. We had
great difficulty with cross-talk and all kinds of devices
were tried to remedy difficulties arising from induction.
There were literally hundreds of these induction killers.
They were very successful in killing the induction but
they also were successful in killing the talk so that nothing
ever came from that line of development.

A wire was strung from Boston to Lawrence, about
26 miles, on telegraph line. Anybody listening on that
telephone line could hear all the telegraph messages. It
was as though we had, as I once said, an old-fashioned
drum corps and each drummer began drumming a separate
tune.

All kinds of experiments were tried. We tried the
use of different kinds of steel and iron wire. Wire was
run from Boston to Lowell that had a spiral cut all
around it. Somebody had a theory that the voice would
follow that spiral. A line of four iron wires was built
from Boston to Providence and on Sunday, when nothing
else was doing on the wires, it was possible to talk on one
of them, but if you tried to talk at the same time on the
other wire, there was confusion. Then, to make matters
worse, a new fangled telegraph system was started which
used very high frequency current and that practically
destroyed the business of the line altogether.

There was tried out between Boston and Providence,
at my suggestion — in fact, I tried the experiment myself
— what is now known as a metallic circuit. Instead of
using the earth as a ground, a return wire was employed.
That is now the standard and the strange thing is that
we ever did use the ground.

This metallic circuit experiment was a very great
success and we planned to build a line to New York, but
there were limitations in the iron wire itself, even using
the metallic circuit, and when we put a number of these

[27]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

circuits on the same line, we still got cross-talk. These
difficulties were overcome by the development of hard
drawn copper wire which is one of the most fundamental
contributions that has ever been made to telephony. A
line was built from New York to Boston, using the hard
drawn copper wire, but we still had cross-talk from
neighboring circuits and that had to be overcome, so a
method of transposition was adopted. All of the licensee
companies experienced these same difficulties with line
trouble during the early days of the telephone history,
and when the general staff worked out a solution for a
trouble for one of these licensees, it took care of all the
rest at the same time.

In working out the increasing distances over which
one could talk, we had to take into account, not only the
line, but the instruments. There were two schools of
thought. At an International Congress which I attended
in France, the best European thought was to solve the
problem of talking from New York to San Francisco by
loud speaking transmitters. We had studied the problem
ourselves and reached the conclusion that the loud
speaking transmitter was not the way to accomplish the
purpose. If we used the loud transmitter, it would be
necessary to put in more complicated apparatus in the
subscribers' stations and more powerful batteries and
switches, and the cross-talk with these instruments would
require a re-arrangement of the switchboards and cables
which would cost many millions of dollars, so we made
the attack on the line.

When the electric trolley was introduced, it presented
a very serious problem because the noise it caused in the
telephone circuit made talking difficult and in many cases
impossible. Also, current from the trolley wires operated
the central office switchboard signals and caused currents
also to flow through the ground and onto the lead cables
of the telephone companies, corroding the cables by what
is known as electrolysis. After a number of years of work-
ing, a practical solution of this electrolysis trouble was
arrived at and was adopted by all of the licensee companies.

[28]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

The extension of high tension circuits of power lines
also presented serious problems. To meet them, various
measures were adopted. One was to devise protectors,
an apparatus designed to produce as near practical im-
munity from fire and personal hazards as possible. The
study of the problem of high tension circuits is still being
continued because what was high tension at the begin-
ning, is now very low tension. Two thousand volts was
high tension and now we are talking about 200,000 volts.

Cable Construction

As the demand for telephones increased, it became
necessary to devise a solution for the problem presented
by an increasing number of overhead telephone wires.
For physical reasons and also for legislative reasons, we
had to put our wires underground. We did not know how
to make them work if put underground. That was the
problem presented to the general staff, a problem, of
course, which they had been working on from the begin-
ning, but very intense work was conducted. While it
was possible to talk for considerable distances when the
wires were on poles, it was found that a mile of cable
would cut down the transmission as badly as 100 miles
of open wire. The first cables that were employed were
rubber or gutta percha, both of which were good insula-
tors as far as keeping the'current on the wire was concerned,
but for some reason or other, they seemed to destroy the
talk. Early in 1881, I participated in experiments which
were conducted by the licensor company when all the
possible types of cables we could think of were put down.
Cable was run in the neighborhood of Attleboro, Mass.,
between the tracks of the railroad for a number of miles, in
which all sorts of devices were tried out. The first big ad-
vance or help that we got was in the introduction of cotton
into the cables instead of rubber. Cotton had always
been regarded as a very poor insulation but it was found
that this was due to the presence of moisture and by
heating the cable and driving out the moisture and

[29]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

quickly covering it with lead pipe, a very high degree of
insulation was obtained and it was much less objection-
able than the rubber because you could talk farther
through such a cable and cross-talk was not so great.

Many experiments were conducted with that type of
cable and a great deal of it was put down, but in these
experiments of 1881-1883, cable half a mile long of the
best that we could manufacture so impaired the trans-
mission over the telephone line that talking to the suburbs
of Boston was very greatly hindered, or even prevented,
by the interposition of a mile or a half mile of cable.

The cable problem had to be solved before the wires
could go underground, and the solution did not come
before the wires accumulated so rapidly that the author-
ities ordered them underground. As a matter of fact,
Mayor Grant sent his men out with axes and actually
chopped down the poles in New York.

The cotton cable was very greatly improved and
finally it was superseded by paper, and the paper cable
was put through a process of evolution until now it is the
type usually employed. The experiments conducted by
the general staff on this problem were continuous and
were directed, not only to developing local cable, but also
to developing long distance cable. Another way to state
this problem is to say that it involved making the cables
cheaper and also making cables so that we could talk
through them. Of course, there is no use in making a
cheap cable if you could not talk through it. So that,
as in all the work we do, we have got to look to service
first, and then, keeping the grade of service right, go as
far as we humanly can in making it more economical.

It is interesting to trace the development of the 2,400
wire cable, which is one of the most recent types, following
a long series beginning with the earliest type of rubber
cable and thence going, by various stages, to a type of
cable that would give only 100 wires in one sheath. That
100 wire cable cost as much, or probably more, than the
2,400 wire cable did. But that is not all. Space under-
ground in New York is so precious that in certain regions,

L30]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

it is almost impossible to get any more room for ducts, so
that, unless these cable improvements had been made,
there would be certain parts of New York where it would
be hard to supply service at any cost.

Long distance telephoning was another problem alto-
gether. To talk through long distance seemed, at times,
to be forever an insuperable difficulty. One of the im-
portant steps was the invention of the loading coil by Dr.
Pupin. He had a very good idea and our company ob-
tained his patent rights but, as is usual in such cases, the
patent, while explaining the principle, did not by any
means show how to make it on a practical scale. Our
progress in developing long distance cable transmission
was something like this : we succeeded in talking very well
through a cable from New York to Newark with the
Pupin coils and other arrangements in association with
them. Our further work carried us to Philadelphia, and
by further research, we were able to talk to Wilmington,
Delaware, and finally to Washington. Still continuing to
develop, always making new discoveries and advance-
ments, we succeeded in talking all the way underground
from Boston to Washington.

The congestion which was encountered in the local
wires in the beginning is now being felt in the trunk
lines joining the different cities together. They are be-
coming so numerous that they have to be put into cables,
so that the problem having been solved locally, we have
to go on and solve it all over again for long distances. At
the present time, we have, by means of a remarkable
new type of cable, succeeded in talking from Boston to
Harrisburg, and our experiments show that we now have
a type of cable that will talk all the way from Boston to
Chicago, and in fact, the cable is now being extended to
that city.

One of the important phases of cable development is
the effect of the growth of central offices upon the use of
cable. The larger the central office became, the greater
the congestion of wires in the neighborhood of the office.
One central office in the early days had 2,400 wires coming

[31]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

in from four directions to the roof, and a sleet storm
came, weighted the wires and that pulled over the struc-
ture and almost took the roof away. Large central offi-
ces would be impossible without cables and when we have
advanced the cable art, we have made larger central
offices possible. These two factors react on each other.

The Evolution of the Switchboard

The switchboard in the beginning, as I have said
before, was a telegraph switchboard, a very crude type,
very good indeed for the telegraph, but not swift enough
or certain enough for the telephone. These switchboards
were used and soon, under Mr. Watson and his assistants,
began to be improved until a very good switchboard was
evolved for one operator only. That was about 1878 or
1879, but as the number of lines grew, we had to have more
operators, and then more switchboards. These operators
had to call out to each other for the lines that they
wanted, and the central office soon became a sort of
bedlam. The methods of connecting were very imperfect
and interconnection between one operator and another,
or from one office to another, was attended, even under
the best circumstances, by great delay, by extraordinary
errors, compared to what we now have, and by constant
cutting off and intermittent conversations.

The switchboard immediately began a process of
evolution. These difficulties of communicating from
operator to operator were overcome in the multiple switch-
board which was one of the very important and perma-
nent contributions to the art. By means of the multiple
switchboard, if an operator receives a call for a sub-
scriber in her own central office, she could connect directly
to that subscriber without asking somebody else to help.
That principle is still employed.

The early switchboards had very imperfect signalling
devices and in general, were very, very crude. In the
beginning, the central office operator had no power gen-
erator as we now know it, and she would have to turn a

[32]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

crank the way the subscribers formerly did and now do
in the country.

The business continued to grow, notwithstanding all
these difficulties, and about 1886 and 1887, quite a large
number of telephones had to be provided for the down-
town offices in New York City. They were scattered in
two or three different offices and worked so unsatisfac-
torily that it was decided to consolidate them. This
consolidation presented a very serious switchboard prob-
lem because with these large switchboards, the cost
seemed to go up, not in direct proportion to the number
of subscribers, but in almost geometric proportion, and it
was difficult to get them to work, and looking forward at
the complications and the expenses of such switchboards,
it was really appalling.

The general manager of the New York Telephone
Company stated several times at conferences, that the
best he could see in regard to the switchboard problem
was that it meant that all he had to do was get enough
telephones, and the company would go broke. The
expense seemed to be going up and would have gone up,
if we had kept on that track, at a rate very much more
rapidly than the increase of revenue from subscribers
and there really was at that time a crisis. The telephone
rates were $150 a year; that was the cheapest telephone
you could get in New York City, and the metallic circuit
was being put in at $240 a year.

One point after another was overcome. One type of
switchboard after another was devised and the telephone,
instead of being greatly restricted in New York as was
then feared and as it would have been if we had not
made these improvements, spread out all over the city and
state. Without these switchboard improvements, of
course, the development could not have taken place.

One of the very gratifying developments was the re-
moval from the subscriber's station of the crank which
had to be turned and the batteries which had to be
renewed. This improvement was made by the intro-
duction of the common battery system. The old type of

[33]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

instrument was an annoyance to the subscriber and a
great expense to the licensee, and the introduction of the
common battery system was attended with most gratify-
ing results in the central offices, because without any addi-
tional labor, in fact with greater ease, the central office
operator could handle a much larger number of calls with
really less effort, with much greater promptness and
without some of the worst annoyances that attended the
working of the previous system. One of them was that
under the old system, the operator had to be continually
listening in and annoying a customer asking "Are you
through?" whereas with the new system, signals are
exhibited when subscribers are finished and when they
want to talk, so that the operator does not have to, and,
as a matter of fact, does not listen in unless the sub-
scriber signals her to do so when he wants attention.

The Machine Switching System

There has been a great change in the economics
affecting operators. The war placed women in the work
which had always been done by men, and women are now
continuing in that kind of occupation. It completely
changed the situation with respect to the supply of
operators. Also with the increase in trunk lines and other
complications, the space which an operator can reach is
about exhausted and the general staff have studied the
problem to see what could be done about it and that
brings us to the consideration of the machine switching
system, or automatic system. That has been a subject
which has occupied our attention for ten or fifteen years
pretty steadily, with a view to finding out what place such
machinery has in the properly organized telephone system.

Our tendency has been, all the time, to introduce
machinery wherever it gives a better result to the public,
or wherever it can be attended by economy of any kind.
The fundamentals of this system were tried out for a
number of years in Newark, and the other features of
it were under trial for a long time, in New York City,

[34]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

for handling trunk lines. The most recent installation
was at Omaha, and there much interest was exhibited
as to how the subscribers would regard it. The result
was that subscribers, a lot of them, sat up until 12 o'clock
at night so that they could be the first to send the call.
The business started off in the morning and went through
almost without a hitch, and the entire comment of the
public and the press was most gratifying.

The Problem of Manufacture

In the early days there were very few sources avail-
able for the manufacture of telephone apparatus. There
was a concern at Indianapolis owned by Gilliland; one
at Cincinnati, Post & Company; another at Baltimore,
Davis & Watts; Charles Williams & Company in Boston
which was the firm that manufactured the first telephone
ever made for Bell, and the Western Electric Company
in New York and in Chicago.

Licenses were issued to these manufacturers but it
was found that there was a great diversity in product
and it was necessary to have the parts constructed so as
to fit into a complete system. The telephone itself, of
course, does not work in isolation. Its operation depends,
not only on its own condition, but on the condition of
the instrument with which the communication has been
held, and on the condition of every intermediate thing
in the plant, so that the discordant results in construc-
tion were very troublesome. Also, it would seem that
some of these companies were not as strong as they
should have been and that starting to install a switch-
board, which would last fourteen or fifteen years, it was
not all put in at once; the licensee companies did not put
in any more than they could possibly help to save idle
investment, but a manufacturing company was committed,
when it put in a certain type of switchboard, to add
parts to that, so that it was necessary to get some ar-
rangement to insure continuity of supply of all the parts
that were needed.

[35]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

For these and for other reasons, these manufacturing
companies were brought together into a single company.
Very little was done with the factories at Cincinnati and
Baltimore, but Williams of Boston, Gilliland of Indian-
apolis, and the Western Electric Company combined their
talent, utilizing the best men of each concern, in fact all
of their good men were selected and all the workmen
that would go, and factories were established in New
York City. This was the beginning of the Western Elec-
tric Company, as the manufacturing branch of the Bell
System.

Necessity for Development and Research Work

If we did not continue this work the progress would
cease. I don't like to criticize any of the foreign gov-
ernments, but in order to illustrate my point I must
bring out the fact that where we have hundreds and
hundreds of men developing, they have four or five.
That is, practical development and research as we know
it here in America is unknown among the government
administrations abroad. They have not conducted these
developments in the manner that we have here in this
country. And the result is that, looking over the entire
contributions that have been made to the telephone art,
the developments have been made here in this country,
and there has been no substantial contribution to the
art that has been made by any of these governments.
Now, they have departments fordoing these things, but
they are not done. The best that they have abroad
today is what they have taken from us. But in their
method of organizing, their methods of use have not been
developed, because they have not had general staffs to
develop these systems. Take it even in the matter of
their military necessities, the general staff of the French
Army under Foch was the most brilliant that was ever
known, and it was well known that a communication
system was necessary for the conduct of war, but when
the war broke their own administration was unable to

[36]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

provide them with a communication system and it was
necessary for the Americans to superimpose upon France
and the neighboring countries a communication system
within nine months that the foreign governments had
failed to provide in forty years.

Now, if we stopped this development work we would
dam up progress and we would fall into a condition as
bad as there is abroad. Science is constantly advancing.
Our country is growing. Business is expanding. New
ideas are springing up in business, and new requirements
are made. We want to talk greater and greater dis-
tances. We must be prepared to talk to South America.
We are already talking to Cuba. There is no doubt we
will be talking to Europe. We must go on expanding.
To stop now would mean that the business would have
to grow, but it would be conducted with the methods
that we now know, which are well adapted for the present
development, but we know they are not best for the
development of ten or fifteen years hence. When we
start putting in a plant now we are not building it for
one year or two; we are building it for a long period
and we must have in mind that it must grow, and that
that new growth must always be in accord with the de-
mands of the time.

L37J

Some Notes on Statistics

With Special Reference to the Telephone Business

The Origin of Statistics

IN the popular mind statistics is frequently looked
upon as a science of recent development which
deals with uninteresting figures at its best and with
involved mathematical concepts at its worst. Yet the
use of crude statistical methods runs back as far as re-
corded history; and probably the evolution of no subject
is more closely interwoven with the needs and develop-
ment of peoples than is that of statistics. The history of
statistics through the past ages is no mere catalog of suc-
cessive steps in the development of a scientific basis of
recording facts, but rather is a story of persistent efforts
to obtain a working knowledge of the fundamental ele-
ments in the lives of nations — first, with respect to their
population and material resources and, later, with respect
to their economic and social relationships also. From
the earliest records of organized social and political com-
munities, the enumeration and compilation of statistical
data has played an integral and vital part in their ex-
istence. The apportionment of taxes and the organiza-
tion of armies were practically impossible without some
degree of statistical information concerning the re-
sources in materials and man power of the tribe or nation.
One of the earliest known statistical compilations took
place about 3050 B.C. and concerned the collection of
data regarding the population and wealth of Egypt in
order to make arrangements for the construction of the
pyramids. Both secular and sacred history are filled
with instances of the taking of censuses of population in
order to determine the fighting strength of nations and
as a basis for levjdng taxes. Until the 17th or the 18th
century, however, practically the sole use of such censuses
was to aid the government in its administrative work or
in its military aspirations.

[38]

Bell TelepJione Quarterly

The Beginning of Modern Statistical
Methods

Modern statistics developed from two apparently
independent schools of research, one in Germany which
became prominent about the middle of the 18th century
and the other in England which originated about a
century earlier. Statistics as first used in Germany
applied to lectures or books upon descriptive political
science and was considered as a science of populations,
similar to what is now known as demography. Etymo-
logically, statistics means the science of states, and not
until the development of the English school of political
arithmetic was statistics looked upon as primarily a
study of numerical data.

Interest in statistical compilations was aroused in
England during the middle of the 17th century after
the disastrous visitations of the plague had caused the
publication of weekly reports of the burials, and later
the christenings, in London. In 1662 Captain John
Graunt of London published his "Observations on the
Bills of Mortality" which contained the results of his
observation and measurement of the births and deaths in
London and is one of the first recorded analytical studies
of a strictly statistical nature. This field of study was at
that time called "Political Arithmetic," but by the
early part of the 19th century it had largely absorbed
the descriptive political science school in Germany, from
which it took over the term "statistics."

The first journal of the Royal Statistical Society,
which was founded in London in 1834, defined statistics
as "the ascertaining and bringing together of those facts
which are calculated to illustrate the condition and pros-
pects of society." Further expansion in the scope and
meaning of statistics took place at this period, and from
the name of a science or art of state-description by numer-
ical methods the word was transferred to those figures
with which it operated. When .this occurred, the term
soon lost its peculiar application to data concerning the

[39]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

state and was used in referring to any collection of numeri-
cal data, covering psychology, biology and other sciences,
as well as political economy.

Thus statistics in modern usage has come to mean
primarily a method or tool by means of which numerical
data in any field may be analyzed and interpreted. In
its development statistics has, of course, borrowed very
largely from the older science of mathematics. Using
processes largely mathematical in character, the student
of statistical methods formulates the rules of procedure
for handling groups of data, and the specialists in various
fields of knowledge apply these rules to their own par-
ticular problems.

The Application of Statistics to Business

But while statistics has had a long and distinguished
career in the service of public administration and private
scientific research, it is true that the application of
statistical methods of analysis to business data is a de-
velopment of recent origin. This is because business
administration itself has only recently taken on the
aspects of a distinct science, with the process of evolu-
tion from small individual enterprises to large corporate
organizations which has been coincident with the growth
and improvement of transportation and communication.
Moreover, the use of statistical methods in business has
been facilitated by the recent progress in the invention
and manufacture of mechanical labor-saving devices
which have made it possible to undertake much statistical
work which was formerly prohibitive from the stand-
point of both cost and time. The increase in legislation
affecting business has also served to stimulate the expan-
sion of statistical work in industry. So long as business
was conducted by small units, each with a limited market,
there was a tendency to regard statistical work as an
unnecessary luxury; but with the development of busi-
ness as a science, statistical analysis is destined to play
the same vital part in business administration as it has

[40]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

in the progress of other sciences. Indeed, the progress
made in business statistics in the last few years has been
so pronounced that " statistical control" is rapidly
becoming an actuality in many lines.

Business Statistics Defined

To make clear the scope and character of that branch
of statistics which has come to be called business statistics,
it is perhaps advisable to attempt briefly to define
"statistics" as it commonly applies to business admin-
istration.

The man in the street looks upon statistics as the
systematic collection, classification and tabulation of
numerical facts, and his idea of a statistician is a man
who knows how many males of foreign parentage, be-
tween the ages of twenty and thirty, are employed in
mining occupations in the State of Nevada. The more
scientific person probably thinks of statistics as a method
mathematical in its operation, in which numerical
data are analyzed through complex calculations of aver-
ages, units and the like.

The business statistician himself, however, thinks of
his work as the collecting, classifying and interpreting
of ascertained facts — including facts not subject to
numerical statement — primarily with the aim of disclos-
ing some further and hitherto unascertained facts. He
thinks of his duties as those of assembling and selecting
data, analyzing and combining them, and presenting
and explaining them in such a way that they tell much
more than they do in their primary, unrelated form.
The opportunity for work of this character obviously
pervades all branches of any business organization.
Moreover, the field for such statistical work is not con-
fined merely to the analysis and interpretation of
internal operating and financial data, but includes the
study of general business and economic conditions and
the influence of these conditions upon the individual
business.

[41]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

The Development of Telephone Accounting

In considering the progress already made in the
field of statistical analysis of business operations, it
should be remembered that accounting work is to a large
extent the basis of statistics and that the introduction
of scientific accounting methods is itself a comparatively
recent development. This applies to the telephone busi-
ness as well as to other lines of industry.

While the telephone was invented forty-five years
ago, only for the past fifteen years or so has the telephone
been a widespread public service. During this period
the first work was naturally the erection of an adequate
accounting system to show the financial condition of
the business. It was necessary to set up refined methods
for the separation of capital and income, the proper
treatment of depreciation, etc. Practically all available
time was devoted to the development of uniform accounts
and standard reports, correct plant and maintenance
accounting, suitable records of departmental expendi-
tures and forms of accounts for general publication.
Along with all this, careful plans have been worked
out for extending the use of accounts by administrative
officers, placing in the hands of responsible officials ac-
counts practically arranged as working tools for every-
day use. In the Bell System most of this work has been
accomplished during the past fifteen years, a period
within which the number of company-owned telephone
stations has increased from two millions to nine millions.

The Field for Statistical Analysis of Internal
Telephone Data

Under such circumstances it would be surprising if
the work of statistical analysis had progressed to the
same degree as the accounting work. Development of
the business has gone on faster than development of the
necessary statistical personnel. Thus, at the present
time, the Bell System is in possession of an admirable
accounting system and a comprehensive set of primary

[42]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

records — operating as well as financial — but has not
advanced so far in the development and application of
methods of statistical analysis. The magnitude of the
business has made necessary such a voluminous mass of
records and reports that many useful facts as to past
conditions now he buried, while significant elements of
current operations are frequently subordinated. It seems
apparent, therefore, that we have reached the point where
there is not so pressing a need to extend and sensitize the
accounting system as a whole as there is need to proceed
further with the scanning, sifting and interpreting of
results now shown by the accounts and operating records,
and the presentation of the significant facts, trends,
ratios and units through appropriate graphical and other
statistical forms. Even as close cooperation has been
established between the Accounting Department and
other Departments in the working up of accounting data,
in like measure close cooperation can profitably be estab-
lished between the Departments in the work of statistical
analysis. It is a matter of general concern that all
accounts are under proper check so that figures finally
lodged in the balance sheet are absolutely correct accord-
ing to the accounting instructions; should not equal
care be taken that all accounts and operating records
are subjected to suitable and adequate statistical analysis
not merely as to the correctness of the figures, but as to
the significance and interpretation of the figures? While
the accounts show very definitely what has happened,
statistical work is designed to show, from an analysis of
operating as well as accounting data, exactly where it has
happened, why it has happened, and who or what is
responsible.

The Influence of External Forces

As already indicated, the field of business statistics
is by no means limited to the analysis of internal financial
and operating records. One of the fundamental char-
acteristics of present-day industrial organization is the

[43]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

instabilit}r of business activity. This instability is mani-
fested in individual businesses and in business as a
whole. Business may be improving or it may be growing
worse, but it is never static. Because they directly or
indirectly affect profits, these fluctuations in business
activity are of paramount interest to the business man;
and their accurate measurement and analysis through the
application of scientific statistical methods is consequently
a matter of prime importance. This applies to the tele-
phone as well as to other businesses, even though the
telephone business is one of relative stability as compared
with business in general.

Perhaps the most common form of analysis of business
data is the comparison of crude data for a current month
with corresponding figures either for the preceding month
or for the same month of the preceding year, or for both.
However, direct comparisons of business data either as
between different months or periods of the same year,
or as between the same month or periods of different
years, are in most cases liable to give rise to more or less
misleading conclusions, because of the presence in the
crude data of the effect of two influences: namely,
seasonal variation (which affects the accuracy of the com-
parison in the first case) and normal growth or long time
trend (which affects the accuracy of the comparison in
the second case).

As an illustration of this point, take an example
applicable to the telephone business. Suppose, for
instance, that the number of originating local calls in a
certain exchange area during the month of August is
reported as 3% less than the number in the preceding
month of July, but 5% greater than the number in the
month of August of the preceding year. This compari-
son of August with the preceding July does not neces-
sarily indicate unfavorable traffic conditions or results in
August; indeed, since local traffic in that month is usually
less than that in July as a result of the effect of normal
seasonal influences, the fact that the decrease in August as
compared with July is only 3% may even indicate an

[44]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

improvement in conditions. In the comparison of August
with the same month of the preceding year, the element of
seasonal variation is largely eliminated but no allow-
ance is made for the element of normal growth. Thus,
the fact that local traffic is 5% greater than in the same
month of the preceding year does not necessarily indicate
that the volume of traffic is as great as it ought to be.
If the normal annual growth in local traffic in the exchange
area in question happened to be in excess of 5%, the traffic
results in the current August would be unfavorable
rather than favorable.

The Statistical Measurement of External

Forces

Therefore, in dealing with business data in which the
influences of long time trend and seasonal variation are
present, accurate conclusions can generally be reached
only if the effects of these influences are eliminated. In
a forthcoming Statistical Bulletin issued by the Statistical
Division of the American Telephone and Telegraph Com-
pany a statistical method is described whereby the effect
of these influences can be removed, the method being one
which has been carefully tested both in the analysis of
general business data and in the analysis of statistics of
the telephone business. For purposes of explanation,
figures on the monthly production of pig iron over the
past 19 years are used in the Bulletin, because reliable
homogeneous figures on pig iron production are available
for a period of satisfactory length and because these
figures are relatively free from complications which are
irrelevant to a discussion of the general statistical method
involved. The analysis of homogeneous series of figures
within the telephone business, however, can proceed
along identical lines. The accompanying chart shows
the result of the application of the method to local traffic
in a certain telephone exchange area.

After the effects of seasonal variation and long-time
trend have been eliminated from any series of business

[45]

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Bell Telephone Quarterly

data, the corrected figures will usually be characterized
by a broad wave-like movement similar in general form,
though of different amplitude, to the cyclical swings of
business activity through its alternate periods of pros-
perity and depression. In the case of telephone data,
the comparison of figures analyzed by this method (where
applicable) with external indices of general business,
similarly analyzed, will permit proper conclusions to be
drawn as to whether the current movements reflected by
the telephone figures are reasonable and satisfactory
in the light of general business conditions, or whether they
indicate the existence of some abnormal condition which
warrants examination from an administrative standpoint.
The establishment of a consistent relationship, or correla-
tion, between two or more analyzed series of telephone
figures will also prove serviceable for administrative pur-
poses, since the development of inconsistencies in these
relationships will also generally indicate the presence of
some condition warranting administrative investigation.

Statistical Aid in Forecasts

Not only is accurate analysis of past and present
performance serviceable for administrative purposes and
necessary for proper conclusions as to the real trend of
current movements, but the measurement of the elements
of long-time growth and seasonal variation by the sta-
tistical method described in the above-mentioned Statis-
tical Bulletin affords, it is believed, an improved basis for
forecasts, especially forecasts in which it is necessary to
allow for the effect of general business conditions. The
normal trend of long-time growth may be projected into
the future and, where forecasts by months are desired,
the projected annual trend may be translated into monthly
figures in accordance with the normal seasonal variation.
Such a projection, if limited to a period not more than
five years in advance, should prove in the case of most
series of telephone statistics to provide a substantially
accurate forecast of future trends in so far as these

[47]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

elements are concerned. If, furthermore, a fairly con-
sistent relationship can be shown to have existed in the
past between a given telephone series and some index of
outside business conditions, a still more accurate forecast
can be provided by modifying the figures indicated by
the projected normal to allow for the influence of the
probable future course of business conditions.

Conclusion

The particular phases of statistical and accounting
work discussed above do not, of course, cover the whole
field for such work in the Bell System. They are cited
merely to indicate in a general way the undeveloped
opportunities which still exist for further application of
statistical methods of analysis, and to call attention to
the need for the progressive development of these oppor-
tunities. Much splendid statistical work is already es-
tablished in all parts of the System, but before the
field can be thoroughly covered a considerable amount of
experimental work is still to be done.

S. L. Andrew.

L48j

Progress of the Joint Committee on
Relations of Supply and Signal Circuits

YOU have all heard of E. K. Hall's "Four C's
Program" — Contact, Conference, Confidence,
Cooperation. Once again, this time in the matter
of our relations with power and lighting companies, the
advantage of this method of handling questions, in which
both sides have a constructive interest, is demonstrated.
For many years the problems arising from the prox-
imity of supply (electric light and power) circuits and
signaling circuits have required the attention of the
engineers of both classes of public service companies
and, in many cases, questions have arisen requiring
also the attention of the executives. These questions
have to do with relations between the two classes of
circuits — at crossings, at conflicts (that is, close paral-
lelism where there is a chance of physical contact
between the wires), on jointly used poles, and in con-
nection with inductive interference. Questions arising
from the foregoing relations, and particularly from the
last one, inductive interference, have been troublesome
and from time to time have created controversies. Oc-
casionally these have resulted in commission or court
proceedings. Considering the magnitude of both systems
and the opportunities for differences, these have been
few in number, but their possibility was always present
and somewhat more than a year ago the settlement of
some of these questions took on a more threatening
aspect. It appeared that the time had come when the
industries concerned must either get together and settle
the questions concerned by cooperative effort or there
would be much controversy, litigation and bad feeling
resulting in necessarily unfavorable reactions on the
public relations and service of both parties.

Accordingly, an arrangement was perfected between
the Bell System and the National Electric Light Asso-
ciation, the great organization of the lighting and power
companies of the United States, by which a Joint Com-

[49]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

mittee was appointed, this Committee consisting of men
of recognized standing in both industries, so that any
conclusion reached by them would be generally recog-
nized as having the very highest standing. This Com-
mittee held its first meeting on March 26, 1921, at which
meeting there was a general discussion of the questions
involved and a unanimous decision that it would be to
the interest of both industries to work out the questions
under consideration in a friendly and cooperative spirit.
A Sub-Committee of the Joint Committee consisting of
R. F. Pack and Bancroft Gherardi was appointed, and
proceeded in accordance with its instructions, to form a
committee of engineers to assist it in analyzing the situ-
ation and to prepare a report setting forth certain prin-
ciples of procedure for the treatment of situations of
proximity and to recommend such further work as might
be necessary. The Committee of Engineers appointed
consisted of W. J. Canada, A. E. Silver and F. H.
Lane for the National Electric Light Association, and
H. P. Charlesworth, S. P. Grace, H. S. Osborne and
H. S. Warren for the Bell System.

A second meeting of the Joint Committee was held
on March 7, 1922, at which the report referred to above
was received and adopted. The Joint Committee also
prepared the following letter transmitting the report.

New York, March 7, 1922.

Member Companies of the N. E. L. A.
Associated Companies of the Bell System.

We are sending you herewith a copy of the report of the Sub-
Committee of this Committee, which report is recommended as a
basis for the handling of relations between the electric light and
power circuits of the N. E. L. A. Member Companies and the com-
munication circuits of the Associated Companies of the Bell System.

As to the relations between the two classes of circuits at cross-
ings, conflicts, and jointly used poles, the Committee recommends
a definite guide to practice, subject to satisfactory agreement as to
jointly used poles between the parties concerned as to terms and
conditions.

As to parallel construction, general principles are recommended
which show the way to a satisfactory solution of specific cases.

[50]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Your Committee has instructed a Sub-Committee consisting of
M. R. Bump, R. F. Pack and Bancroft Gherardi to proceed with
the further work as recommended under Section II (Standards of
Construction and Operation), and to report before May 15.

Your Committee, as soon as standards of construction and
operation are adopted, will consider whether principles can be es-
tablished to aid in the fair allocation of the costs of coordinative
measures. In the meantime, your Committee believes that with
the cooperative spirit which now is evident, a mutually equitable
adjustment can and should be made in each specific case. It is
understood that any adjustments made will not be considered as
precedents by either party to the prejudice of future understandings.

Your Committee wishes to emphasize the fact that the most
important factor in this whole situation, and the one which will
contribute in the greatest degree to the solution of all these ques-
tions, is close cooperative working between the two classes of com-
panies, and the taking up and working out of problems in advance
of the doing of actual construction. It is of primary importance
that power and communication companies cooperate in the prepa-
ration of such plans with a view to coordinating their construction,
both with respect to the immediate construction proposed and
general arrangements for future development, as obviously the
necessary adjustments can best be made while the work is in a
paper stage. With the way clear as to how the solution of these
problems may be obtained through cooperative work, it would not
seem necessary, and certainly it is inadvisable, to undertake to
settle such questions by resorting to controversial proceedings which
necessarily produce feelings of animosity which are not limited in
their influence to the particular situation in question.

In conclusion, your Committee desires to express its apprecia-
tion of the general cooperative spirit in which such questions have
been handled throughout the country during the year in which
your Committee has been at work in endeavoring to find a solution
of the problems satisfactory and fair to both parties.

[Signed]

0. D. Young, Chairman, General Electric Company, New York, N. Y.

R. H. Ballard, Southern California Edison Company, Los Angeles, Cal.

M. R. Bump, H. L. Doherty & Company, New York, N. Y.

H. M. Byllesby, Represented by R. F. Pack, H. M. Byllesby & Com-
pany, Chicago, 111.

J. J. Carty, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, New York,

N. Y.

Bancroft Gherardi, American Telephone and Telegraph Company,
New York, N. Y.

E. K. Hall, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, New York,

N. Y.

[51]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

L. H. Kinnard, The Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, Phila-
delphia, Pa.

Martin J. Insull, Middle West Utilities Company, Chicago, 111.

Robert Lindsay, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, Cleveland, O.

Ben S. Read, The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company,
Denver, Col.

Paul Spencer, United Gas Improvement Company, Philadelphia, Pa.

Guy E. Tripp, Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, New
York, N. Y.

M. H. Aylesworth, Secretary, National Electric Light Association New
York, N. Y.

The Sub-Committee Report, with the letter given
above, has been printed in full and widely distributed.
The recommended plan for the solution of inductive
interference situations and the conclusions of this report
are quoted below.

Recommended Plan for the Solution of Inductive
t Interference Situations

I. General principles.

A. Cooperative planning for all new construction.

B. The location, construction and operation of all supply
and signal circuits in conformity with generally co-
ordinated methods, including precautionary measures
which can reasonably be applied under generally pre-
vailing conditions as distinguished from special situations.

C. Where specific coordinative measures are necessary,
those providing the best engineering solution should be
applied. This involves —

1. Meeting service requirements of both systems.

2. The coordinative measures applied shall be selected
without regard to whether they apply to one system,
or the other system or both.

3. The solution to be based as far as practicable on the
state of the art at that time.

4. Measures of coordination wholly bjr separation should
be considered with other measures of coordination
where the former will not sacrifice economy and
practicability and the convenience of rendering present
and future service.

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Bell Telephone Quarterly

D. Neither party should assume to be the judge of the
service requirements of the other system, or of what
constitutes good practice in that system.

E. Existing cases to be cleared up in an orderly and syste-
matic way as occasion requires in accordance with the
above principles.

II. Standards of Construction and Operation in accord with
the foregoing principles.

A. Adoption of more detailed principles as soon as possi-
ble for temporary use.

B. Preparation by further cooperative work based on the
existing state of the art of definite standards covering
all classes of inductive exposures.

III. Development Work.

As soon as it can be done without interfering with the work
recommended under II above, a cooperative study of the
art shall be made in order to determine what practicable
measures, if any, may be developed and adopted to lessen
the contributing characteristics of both systems.

CONCLUSIONS

Your Sub-Committee believes that great progress has been made
toward the solution of the problems arising out of the proximity
of supply and signal circuits and to further promote the satisfactory
working out of these situations recommends as follows:

1. That the Joint Committee, if they approve, adopt the prin-
ciples and standards herein set forth and recommend them
for general use by the respective utilities.

2. That special emphasis be given to the importance of working
out problems of interference before definite plans are made
for construction both with regard to immediate extensions
and to general plans for future development.

3. That when differences do arise, every effort be made to arrive
at a settlement through negotiations rather than resorting
to court or commission proceedings.

4. That arrangements be made for proceeding with further
cooperative studies along the lines indicated herein.

[53]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

We wish to express our appreciation of the broad spirit of co-
operation with which the engineers assisting us have approached
this matter.

When the Joint Committee adjourned their meeting
of March 7th, it was the unanimous feeling of all that
" What's well begun is half done."

Bancroft Gherardi.

L54

Notes on Recent Occurrences

Ship to Shore Radio Telephone Test, March 5

THE American Telephone and Telegraph Company
conducted its first ship-to-shore radio-telephone
test for the press in conjunction with the Radio
Corporation of America on the evening of Sunday, March
5th. The purpose was to show the progress that has been
made by the Bell System engineers toward working out
the maximum value of the radio as a supplement to te-
lephony. The test was carried on between the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company's radio station at
Deal Beach, New Jersey, and the United States Line
Steamship America, homeward bound from Europe and
at the time about 370 miles from Ambrose Light.

Representatives of all the New York newspapers
and press associations were invited by the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company to meet a group of the
Company's engineers on the top floor of its Long Lines
building at 24 Walker Street, New York. There direct
connection was made with Deal Beach, and sitting around
two long tables each guest was supplied with a telephone
receiver and listened in on the conversations with the
ship in the distant Atlantic, and later themselves talked
with some of their friends on board.

The progress that has been made in the work was
clearly revealed to the listeners when the difficulties that
attended the development of radio service was exposed
to them. Everyone is now familiar with the fact revealed
by aviation that there are pockets in the air. That
similarly there are pockets in the ether was made clear
by the " faint spells'" which for some time delayed the
beginning of successful conversation and the sudden
unaccountable interferences that at times broke into the
communications. On the other hand the demonstration
amply proved that the conditions of the ether have been
sufficiently mastered to enable the American Telephone

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Bell Telephone Quarterly

and Telegraph Company to undertake a guaranteed ser-
vice on business terms.

The test showed notably that two-way radio com-
munication could be established over the same wave
circuit, and that it is quite feasible to connect the radio
with the regular nation-wide wire system. Thus anyone
on the lines of the Bell System, anywhere in the country,
using the ordinary telephone instrument, can talk at ease
with friends in the middle of the Atlantic.

These important features of the test were appropri-
ately signalized by connecting Captain William Rind of
the America with Mr. H. B. Thayer, President of the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company, in his
country home near New Canaan, Connecticut. Although
Captain Rind was 370 miles at sea and Mr. Thayer was
talking on an ordinary line connecting with a small ex-
change, they could hear each other as easily as if they were
in adjacent houses. After the greetings natural to the
occasion, Mr. Thayer inquired what weather Captain
Rind was having. He replied that the America had had
a stormy voyage, that now after some hours of good
weather the sea was beginning to pick up a bit again
under a head breeze, and that he expected to reach
Ambrose at about four o'clock Monday afternoon and
dock by seven. Mr. Thayer then extended hearty con-
gratulations and bid Captain Rind and his ship "Good
night!"

The America has been specially equipped by the
Radio Corporation of America in cooperation with the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company for these
experiments. The experiments are continuing. In these
tests two-way radio telephony has in fact been accom-
plished over a distance of 1,600 miles. To supply a
connection that far, however, cannot be guaranteed.
The future depends chiefly upon equipping enough ships
with the composite sets, permitting simultaneous opera-
tion of the radio telephone and the radio telegraph, so
that radio telephoning will not have to be discontinued
while radio telegrams are being received and sent. But

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Bell Telephone Quarterly

on the evening of March 5th it was made evident that
long distance telephony is practicable at sea as well
as on land.

General Carty's Address at the Civic Forum,
Philadelphia, March 8, 1922

AT a meeting of the Philadelphia Forum, held in
/-\ the Academy of Music on the evening of Wed-
*■ -* nesday, March 8th, John J. Carty, Vice President
of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company,
delivered an address on World Electrical Communication.
General Carty recounted many of the major technical
developments in telephony since the founding of the art.
The telephone amplifier or loud speaker was used, so
that although General Carty spoke in an ordinary tone
of voice, every word that he said could be heard by every
one of the more than 2,800 persons present with a clear-
ness and ease that was surprising to them and evoked
their spontaneous enthusiasm.

General Carty in his introductory remarks referred
to the fact that the telephone was born in 1876, just 100
years after the founding of the Republic in the Declara-
tion of Independence. Another striking parallel to which
he called attention was that as Franklin, America's fore-
most electrical pioneer, was born in Boston but early
moved to Philadelphia to begin his great career, so, too,
the Telephone was born in Boston and came to Phila-
delphia at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 to receive
its first notable recognition.

After the more formal part of his address General
Carty had a motion picture shown depicting the assem-
bling of a telephone instrument. The audience found it
both very instructive and most amusing. General Carty
then had the Academy of Music connected with the trans-
continental circuit to San Francisco, and the audience
by means of the amplifying of the loud speaker was im-
pressed and entertained by conversation with the test-
board men in San Francisco, by phonograph music

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Bell Telephone Quarterly

played in San Francisco, and by a violin solo by Miss
Betty Bates, the twelve year old daughter of Harry
Bates, the commercial representative of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company in California. This
demonstration was notable in that it was the first in
which two-way transmission had been secured across
the continent over a two-wire circuit. Indeed, as Miss
Bates was furnished with a telephone receiver, she was
able herself to hear the applause in Philadelphia that
greeted her playing.

A circuit was then set up to the offices of the Phila-
delphia Public Ledger, and the editor, John J. Spurgeon,
without leaving his desk addressed the audience and read
them news dispatches from Washington, Chicago, Tokio,
London, and Guatemala, which would not be available
to the public in the newspapers until the following
morning.

The demonstrations were closed by radio broad-
casting from the Bell System transmitting station at Deal
Beach, New Jersey. In order to avoid the great amount
of interference from electric sign and other power cir-
cuits which would be incurred if the radio receiver were
installed in the city itself, it was set up at Narbeth,
six miles west of Philadelphia, and the messages carried
on into the Academy of Music by wire. This had the
advantage of showing that the coordination of the radio
and the wire systems is entirely practicable. Once
more the loud speaker made every sound easily audible
to every person in the audience. In this way they
listened to weather reports, bugle calls, music, con-
versation and even radio messages from ships at sea.
During these demonstrations neighboring transmitting
stations very kindly refrained from sending, in order
to leave the ether clear for the Philadelphia Forum.

The audience was intensely interested and showed
their hearty appreciation by frequent applause. The
various demonstrations of the evening had convincingly
proven to them what General Carty had told them in
his address that the American Telephone and Telegraph

[58]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

and its Associated Companies are introducing to the
world "an electrical system of communication which
reaches out to the uttermost limits of the earth and carries
with it the sublime hope that some day it will be utilized
in bringing together the people of all nations into one
common brotherhood."

Mr. Gifford's Address at Boston,
March 9, 1922

THE Boston Directors of the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company gave a dinner at the
Copley Plaza Hotel in that city on the evening
of Thursday, March 9th, to Mr. H. B. Thayer, the
President, and Mr. W. S. Gifford, one of the Vice Presi-
dents of that Company. About eighty of the more
important Boston bankers and brokers were invited to
meet and talk with Mr. Thayer.

At a meeting in the evening to which some 600 other
prominent people were invited, Mr. Gifford made an
address on the financial aspects of the telephone business.
He pointed out that the remarkable nation-wide service
of the Bell System required for its maintenance an organ-
ization employing 250,000 persons and an equipment
valued at over $1,500,000,000. He showed that while
the population and the business of the United States have
grown about 50% since 1900, the telephone service, in-
dicated by the number of telephones in use, had increased
900%, to 14,000,000 in the same time. The audience
learned that at the present time 47% of the 195,000
stockholders of the American Telephone and Telegraph
Company, holding 53% of the $555,000,000 of stock, are
in New England.

Leading up to demonstrations of recent achievements,
Mr. Gifford stated that the research and development
work done by the scientists and engineers of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company resulted in the
saving of millions of dollars to the Associated Companies
and consequently to their subscribers all over the country.

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Bell Telephone Quarterly

Mr. F. A. Stevenson, Director of the Long Lines
Department of the Bell System, then conducted a demon-
stration of radio telephony transmitting speaking and
music from the Company's radio station at Green Harbor,
Massachusetts, 40 miles away. A telephone amplifier,
specially installed for the occasion, enabled every one
present, sitting in their chairs and without any individual
telephone receiver, to hear with perfect ease and dis-
tinctness. Neighboring transmitting stations cooper-
ated by giving the Green Harbor-Copley Plaza demon-
stration right of way through the ether.

This was followed by a demonstration of the telephone
service of the Long Lines Department over its two longest
circuits by a roll-call from Boston to Havana, Cuba, a
distance of 1,827 miles, including 100 miles of submarine
telephone cable between Key West and Havana, and then
a roll-call from Boston to San Francisco, a distance of
3,593 miles. In both cases the telephone amplifier en-
abled the audience to hear the conversation and music
in Havana and in San Francisco as clearly as they could
Mr. Thayer, Mr. Gifford, and Mr. Stevenson talking in
their presence.

In closing Mr. Gifford confirmed Secretary Hoover's
statement that the use of the radio telephone for private
communication between single individuals was quite hope-
less and in view of the achievements of long distance
telephony entirely unnecessary. He defined the real
value of wireless to be for purposes of broadcast publi-
cation and for supplementing the wire system in cases
when connection by wire is impracticable as between
ships at sea or between ship and shore.

The Patent Suit of General Squier

THE system of multiplex telephony and telegraphy
now in use by the American Telephone and
Telegraph Company, by which it is possible to
transmit several telephone conversations and a large
number of telegraph messages over one line, simultane-

[60]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

ously, has been made possible only by the ingenuity and
persistence of the engineers of the Bell System in over-
coming the many obstacles to the use of such a system
on commercial circuits, and by the advent and perfection
of such inventions as the wave filter and the distortion-
less amplifier which are covered by patents owned by the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company.

The basic requirements for such a system have long
been known. There are a large number of patents, both
United States and foreign, bearing dates from 1892 on,
which disclose the fundamentals of such a system. Among
these are the United States patents issued in January,
1911, in the name of George Owen Squier, now Major
General of the Signal Corps, which he asserts are in-
fringed by the system now in use.

These patents were taken out under the provisions of
an early law which remits the government patent fees, pro-
vided the patentee stipulates that the invention may be
♦used by government officials in government work, "or
by any other person in the United States." Until recently
this has been construed by every one, including the
telephone company, General Squier himself and the
United States Patent Office, to mean that the inventions
of such patents were free to any member of the public.
Subsequent to the commercial installation of carrier
current systems by the telephone company, General
Squier has contended for a different interpretation of
that law. It is the view of the telephone company
that General Squier's present interpretation of the law is
erroneous and further that his acquiescence in the former
interpretation during the development and installation
of these commercial systems estops him from now adopt-
ing an inconsistent attitude.

The Squier patents, moreover, are believed by the
telephone company to disclose no advance over the
systems shown in prior patents, and it is further con-
vinced that the telephone company's system does not
infringe those patents, even assuming a margin of in-
vention for them.

[61]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Negotiations between the telephone company and
General Squier have been in progress for some time past
with a view to determining what, if any, rights he has
under the patents. The telephone company, on the
other hand, has been anxious to accord to General Squier
what credit may be due him for advancing this art and to
pay him whatever his contribution might be worth,
while on the other hand, it has realized that unless the
patents were valid and contained features of substantial
value and especially unless his title to non-government
use of the patents was valid, it would not be justified in
paying a substantial amount for a license under them.

As a solution of the difficulty, the telephone company
has taken an option under which it may acquire the
right to use the inventions of the Squier patents, if it
shall be judicially determined that its views as to the
validity and scope of the Squier patents and their dedi-
cation to the public, are wrong.

A suit for the determination of these questions was
begun on March 14, 1922, and will be pressed to the
earliest possible determination by both parties.

The Annual Meeting

THE annual meeting of the stockholders of the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company was
held at the headquarters building at 195 Broadway,
New York, on March 28th and all the directors were re-
elected by a vote of 3,542,132 shares, there being no dis-
senting votes cast.

The stockholders representation was very satisfactory,
there being over 100 shareholders present in person and
over 123,000 shareholders represented by proxies.

President Thayer spoke briefly on some of the matters
covered by the annual report and by unanimous vote the
transactions of the past year were approved.

[62]

Organization Changes

UNDER this caption will be announced only
elections or appointments to the offices of Presi-
dent, Vice President and General Manager with
brief statements of service in the Bell System of new
incumbents.

American Telephone and Telegraph Company

Edgar S. Bloom elected a vice president:

Construction engineer for New York City, New York Tele-
phone Company, 1897 to 1905; general plant superintendent,
Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company; plant superinten-
dent for State of New York, except New York City, New York
Telephone Company, 1909; generid superintendent of plant
operations, American Telephone and Telegraph Company,
1910; second vice president, Southwestern Bell Telephone
Company, 1912; one of the receivers of the Central Union
Telephone Company, 1914 to 1919; elected president, Central
Union Telephone Company, 1919; president of the Indiana
Bell Telephone Company and the Cleveland Telephone Com-
pany (name changed to Ohio Bell Telephone Company), vice
president, Illinois Bell Telephone Company, 1920; chairman
of the Board of Directors of the Ohio Bell Telephone Company
and Indiana Bell Telephone Company, 1921.

New York Telephone Company

Eugene S. Wilson elected a vice president:

On account of the prolonged illness of General Counsel
Swayze, Mr. Wilson has taken charge of the presentation of
the Company's case in the State-wide rate case. Appointed
special counsel for the Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone
Company, 1913; went to Chicago as special counsel for the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company in the case of
William A. Reed vs. American Telephone and Telegraph
Company, 1914; general counsel for the Central Group at
Chicago, 1916; vice president of the American Telephone and
Telegraph Company, in charge of rate matters, 1920.

Illinois Bell Telephone Company

W. R. Abbott elected president:

Cashier of Westchester Telephone Company (New York),
1889 to 1890; order clerk, Metropolitan Telephone and Tele-

[63]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

graph Company (New York), 1890; Chicago Telephone Com-
pany, 1893, serving as order clerk, chief clerk to general super-
intendent, special agent in charge of rights of way and claims,
superintendent of suburban division, general commercial
superintendent and general manager; vice president and
director, 1920.

F. 0. Hale elected vice 'president and general manager:

Entered the traffic department of Bell Company operating
in Eastern Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, 1903;
superintendent, 1907; entered engineering department of the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1909; appointed
chief engineer of the Southwestern Bell Telephone System,
1912; later general manager for the States of Missouri and
Arkansas; appointed chief engineer of the Illinois Bell Tele-
phone Company, 1921.

Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company
and Cumberland Telephone & Telegraph Company

Frederick H. Reid elected operating vice president:

Entered employ of Company as clerk in office of General
Superintendent, 1902; chief clerk to General Superintendent,
1904; chief clerk to General Manager, 1907; assistant to Vice
President and General Manager, 1913; assistant general
manager, 1915; general manager since 1920.

Wisconsin Telephone Company

W. R. McGovern elected president:

Entered telephone business at Milwaukee, 1901; chief
engineer of the Central Group of Bell Telephone Companies,
at Chicago, 1916 to 1919; general manager, Wisconsin Bell
Telephone Company, 1919; vice president, 1920.

Western Electric Company

Dr. Frank B. Jewett appointed vice president in charge
of engineering manufacturing and service to telephone
companies:

Entered employ of the American Telephone and Telegraph
Company, 1904; assistant chief engineer of the Western Electric
Company, 1912, in charge of all development and research work;
chief engineer, 1916; elected a vice president and director of
the Company, 1921.

[64]

A-

Single Copy, 50c $1.50 per Year

Bell
Telephone Quarterly

JULY, 1922

Contents

What Are We Trying to Do? . . . . H. B. Thayer

Some Thoughts on Organization and
Executive Work W. S. Gifford

Sleet Storms A.B.Crunden *a

The Recent Parliamentary Investi- &-.

gation of the Telephone Situation
in Great Britain S. L. Andrew

Conference of Personnel Group . . Bancroft Gherardi

Business Principles in Organization
Practice C.I. Barnard

Progress in Cooperation with the
National Electric Light Associa-
tion . H. P. Charlesworth

Technical Papers Published During
Quarter Just Ended

Notes on Recent Occurrences

American Telephone and Telegraph Company

New York

iccA*b*^x'

•4 h.

'

Bell Telephone Quarterly

A MEDIUM OF SUGGESTION
AND A RECORD OF PROGRESS

Published quarterly for the Bell System by the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company

Subscription, $1.50 per year, in United States and Canada; single copies, 50 cents

Address all communications to

INFORMATION DEPARTMENT

AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY

195 Broadway, New York

Vol. I JULY, 1922 No. 2

What Are We Trying To Do?

The presidents of the Associated Companies of the Bell
System met with the executives of the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company for a fwe-day conference at Yama
Farms on June 3rd. During the meeting a photograph was
taken which appears as a frontispiece in this issue of the Bell
Telephone Quarterly.

President H. B. Thayer of the American Telephone and
Telegraph Company presided and gives the keynote of the
conference in the statement which follows.

EVERY business enterprise, of course, has a purpose.
It may be to make money for its owners and
nothing more. It must make money if it is
sound. Its purpose as well as its methods may be nar-
rowly conceived or the reverse. What is the purpose of
the Bell System, and how does it propose to accomplish
it? In charting a course it is necessary for a mariner
to locate his present position. In defining our objective,
it will assist us not only to locate our present position
but also to remember how we reached it.

With one or two changes in corporate form, the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company's history
begins with the invention of the telephone. It took the

[1]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

telephone as a laboratory model and made it an instru-
ment of national service, a service wider than can be
found in any other country, and of a quality not else-
where approached. In short, its life spans the whole
history of the telephone and the character of its service
is unrivaled.

The Bell System is the only organization, outside the
Federal Government, which carries the whole responsi-
bility for national service. The only other agencies that
may come to mind in this connection are the railroads
and the telegraphs. But the railroads individually cover
only certain sections of the country and there is more
than one telegraph company attempting a national tele-
graph service.

There are certain peculiarities in the Bell System
situation and service which must be noted. While it
discharges a national function, it is governed by state
laws, and in some states must operate through state
corporations. This necessitates a number of operating
units and a central organization rendering the services
for them which can most efficiently and economically
be centralized. A consumer may not be directly con-
cerned as to whether or not a distant friend or corre-
spondent has certain facilities or conveniences. He may
not be interested in discovering whether this distant
correspondent or friend has electric light or electric power
for transportation. But it is likely to be of interest to
him and possibly may be of vital interest to know that
he has a telephone and that it is possible for him to be
quickly connected with him. Coordination of functions
and the standardization of plant are essential to a na-
tional telephone service. They make a central organiza-
tion necessary and render it efficient and economical.

The operating companies are largely owned by the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company. That is
owned by more than 200,000 stockholders, investors not
speculators, and as the result of conservative financing
and careful management, after forty-five years there is
back of every dollar of capital stock of the American

[2]

What Are We Trying To Do?

Telephone and Telegraph Company approximately two
dollars' worth of property.

Having briefly surveyed our present position as a part
of the nation's equipment, let us consider what we should
try to do in the future.

Can there be any doubt? Is there more than one
course open? Is there any difference in interest between
the public and our stockholders? I cannot see any. If
we serve our stockholders wisely and efficiently, we shall
render the largest benefit to the public. The success of
the Company depends upon the measure of good-will of
the community which it can get and hold. We must
give the best and broadest service possible. We must
provide a service which will not only keep pace with
the growth of the country, but also with the constantly
increasing use of the telephone. We must make our
charges low enough to enable every person who ought
to have a telephone, to have one, and at the same time
we must earn enough to attract capital to take care of this
growth. To earn more than is necessary to maintain
and extend the service, would evidence poor judgment
and in the end would be bad business for our stockholders :
to earn less would be an injury to the public. There must
be no waste. The best brains we have must be applied
increasingly to effect economies in construction, main-
tenance and operation. We must struggle unceasingly
for better service and lower rates, but in the interest of
the public, as well as of our stockholders, we must resist
every misconceived attempt to decrease rates to a point
which would make it impossible for the Company to
keep up and give the best service any one knows how to
give. We cannot have fat years and we must not have
lean years.

We must stand by our tested traditions and principles.
The Bell System is a continuing organization and it is
dedicated to a high and important service. We, who are
responsible for its direction, must not temporize. We
must have guiding convictions and take a long look into
the future. We are responsible to the nation, to our stock-

[3]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

holders, and to those who come after us, for the con-
tinued success of the Bell System. While yielding nothing
that is good in our organization and its methods, we
must continually strive for whatever is better. Con-
servatism in principles and progress in methods are the
traditions of the Bell System, and they must be main-
tained.

That is what we are trying to do.

H. B. Thayer.

[4]

Some Thoughts on Organization and
Executive Work

WHAT is organization? And why is organiza-
tion? What are the functions of an executive ?
We hear a great deal about organization in
the business world. We hear that this man is a great
organizer, or that man is a capable executive. We still
hear at times of " Captains of Industry." We occasionally
hear of a good Administrator, although the terms
"administrator," "administration," and "administrative"
are largely confined to governmental affairs. In business
we hear more and more of "Committees" and "Con-
ferences." All of these words and phrases are descriptive
of certain types of machinery by which modern business
is carried on.

In the hope that others might be stimulated to think
about the subject, I have set down some notes as to the
significance of these terms. They are simply suggestions
based to some extent on personal experience and con-
viction, and even more upon observation of successful
executives in their work.

In the first place, we are not in the business of being
organizers as such, or executives for the sake of being
executives — though indeed one might believe the re-
verse of this to be true, judging by the requests for
employment which we frequently receive from men who
"want a job as an organizer or an executive." These
men might almost as well say they would like a job
somewhere as a captain, and feel perfectly well qualified
to fill the job whether it be a captain in the army or
captain of an ocean liner.

Organization and all the machinery associated with
it are not ends in themselves, but tools for the accom-
plishment of some desired result. This seems too obvious
to need to be stated; but it is easy to forget the obvious
unless we are constantly on guard. We must constantly
study our organization to see if it is best fitted to give

[5]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

results. Moreover, we must not overlook the fact that
while it is a tool, and in most cases an indispensable tool,
it is not the only tool needed for accomplishment.

Organization is a rather simple tool to construct.
The difficulty lies in first analyzing clearly the job to be
done. For example, here are five men who want to
unite to build a cooperative apartment house. Each of
the five must not start off independently to buy lumber
or engage an architect or dig the foundations. They
must first lay out and plan what they want and then
determine what needs to be done to secure what they
want. After this has been done, the problem becomes one
of setting up the organization. This involves a decision
as to what part each can do best, and an agreement that
some one of the five shall be in charge of coordinating
the work.

Organization a Means to an End

Organization means order. We may of course be-
come so fascinated with organization in . itself and for
itself, with the game of organizing, that we overdo it.
We may, for instance, become so enamored of organiza-
tion charts that because a particular set-up, which we
know works well and is useful, cannot be charted, we
change the organization.

There are real temptations to the lover of order and
system. His protection lies in constantly keeping in
mind the end to be attained and making all of his plans
with that end in view. To be a good organizer requires
sound judgment, ability clearly to perceive the goal
sought, an analytical mind, and a certain fondness for
order. A real organizer is always creative: it requires
a man with a creative imagination clearly to perceive the
goal sought.

Many of us are asked from time to time for a good
book on organization. It is true that much could be
written on the fundamental principles of organization,
but no book could be written which would properly
instruct exactly how any particular work or business

[6]

Organization and Executive Work

should be organized. Study and books may help define
the problem somewhat and perhaps lay down some
fundamental principles which will assist in solving it,
but no text-book where you would find your problem
stated and the answer given in the back of the book
would be a safe guide.

There is nothing mathematical about organization in
business. It is true, for instance, that probably no chief
executive should have more than five or seven people
reporting to him. This, however, is due to the average
limitations on the part of the average man to direct and
coordinate comfortably a number of functions. The
exceptional man might find it quite possible to carry on
his work as a chief executive with as many as twelve
people reporting to him, or another man who might also
be successful as an executive might prefer only three. In
other words, you can never escape from the human side
of the business and the fact that you are dealing not with
machines but with human beings. So that even after
you have organized your job and laid out the theoretical
organization which can best accomplish it, you will
almost always find it necessary to make variations from
this theoretically sound organization to meet the peculi-
arities and temperaments of the individuals who are to
carry on the work. It is always a good plan to have the
ideal in mind and to work toward it; but by all means do
not try to crowd human beings into a theoretical scheme
when they do not fit.

Duties of an Executive

The executive may be merely an executive; that is, he
may carry out plans and programs which have been laid
down for him. That is in fact the primary job of an
executive. He must deal with men and women; there-
fore he must have sympathy, tact, and force, and must
know when to be firm and when to be conciliatory. His
must not be a single-track mind — he must be alert and
able to see many things at the same time, but must not
permit himself to be overwhelmed by details. He must

[7]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

always watch for actual results — must know the difference
between real accomplishment and making a show of
accomplishment. Above all must he be just and fair in his
treatment of his subordinates, and should always be a leader.

An executive generally must be even more than this.
He must be also an administrator. That is, he is not only
expected to carry out plans laid down for him, but he is
expected in part to make plans and carry them out on
his own initiative and to assist in determining broad
policies for the business as a whole. He must therefore
have initiative, imagination, and judgment. These
qualities are inherent; the}' cannot be acquired. They
can, however, be improved by training and experience.

There are several waj'S of performing the functions
of an executive. Sometimes a man's personalhy will
enable him to be a good executive even though he dis-
regard many of the generally accepted methods of super-
vising a large organization. Generally speaking, however,
a good executive should not be too busy. This is par-
ticularly true if in addition to being an executive he is
to do some general administrative work. The mistake
should not be made, however, of assuming that because
an executive's desk is always clear, he is a good executive.
It is an admirable thing to have a clear desk, but with it
must go certain principles of work which will keep the
executive in touch with his department and enable him to
impress his personality upon it.

More Than a Clearing-house

I remember once hearing of a boy who asked a man
what sort of work he did in a company. The man was a
high executive. His reply stated his job too modestly,
but it illustrates the point. He replied that people came
in to see him, stated what they wanted to know, and
then he referred them to the proper department of the
organization. The boy said he understood perfectly,
because in his father's business the}r had an usher — he sat
at the desk out in the hall — who did just that. An
executive who does just that may really be somewhat

[8]

Organization and Executive Work

more than an usher, but not much. He does not impress
his personality upon his work. He is merely a sort of
clearing-house.

It is necessarjr, of course, for an executive to see that
work is property distributed and coordinated in his
organization, but it is also necessary for him to keep in
constant touch with his men and with the work which is
being done under him. He should always be available
to his immediate subordinates. In my opinion, this is
more important than that he should be accessible to
people outside of his organization. He should discuss
their problems with his subordinates and give them the
benefit of his advice, and avail himself of every means of
keeping in touch with them and keeping them in touch
with him.

Besides this, an executive should have some line of
contact with the men in his organization below the rank
of those who report immediately to him. He should call
for information from anyone in his organization from
time to time— although, of course, he should never issue
instructions or orders except through his immediate
subordinates. By thus calling for information from any-
one he is able to get a first-hand knowledge of the men
working in the business and of their mental attitude
toward their work. This seems to me a very important
point, although its soundness from an organization
standpoint is frequently questioned. People who are in
love with organization as such feel that everything
should " follow the lines of organization," with the result
that a single fact wanted will often have to be requested
through eight or ten people and after the fact is ascer-
tained will have to be reported back through the same
eight or ten people. Such a procedure reminds one of the
old nursery rhyme, " Stick won't beat dog, dog won't
bite cat," etc.

Getting the Work Done

It cannot be too frequently stated that really to be
effective an executive must always keep his mind on

[9]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

what it is that he is trying to accomplish. Of course this
will never be anything but what is for the good of the
business. So it be consistent with the good of the busi-
ness, ambition is a good thing, but the desire for self-
aggrandizement and the desire for power not as a means
to an end but as an end in itself, are most serious human
failings to be dealt with in running an organization. From
the standpoint of getting the work done, it often makes no
material difference whether a particular line of work
is in one branch of the organization or in another. The
organization as a whole will never function without
cooperation between the branches, and with cooperation,
the placing of work in one department rather than
another is often of no material consequence. A desire,
however, on the part of one executive to build larger at
the expense of some other executive is very often a cause
of friction and difficulty. With the successful executive
the problem is not one of finding additional work to add
to his organization, but of preventing jobs which do not
belong to his organization being assigned to it. The
executive who works hard to add to the size of his depart-
ment condemns himself as a good executive.

Another difficulty in the practical operation of a
large organization is frequently due to a lack of clear
definition of responsibility and authority. Every ex-
ecutive is entitled to know clearly where his responsi-
bilities begin and end, and he is entitled to have definitely
the authority which will enable him to meet his responsi-
bilities. Not only is every executive entitled to this,
but when he in turn divides up his responsibilities and
authorities among his immediate subordinates he must
be especially careful to see that those authorities and
responsibilities are clearly defined and understood. He
cannot under any condition blame a subordinate for
something for which the subordinate has no authority
because without authority he cannot properly be held
responsible.

A good executive realizes that there are a good many
ways, and probably several very effective ways, of

[10]

Organization and Executive Work

accomplishing a given result. He will have no foolish
pride of opinion, no troublesome prepossessions. He will
welcome intelligent opposition and suggestion from any-
one and be quick to surrender a prejudice. While he
will impress his personality on his organization, he will
not insist that everything be done his way, as this will
kill initiative and enthusiasm and make his organization
a mere machine.

A Good Judge of Men

Finally, a good executive must be a first-rate judge of
men. Perhaps his most important task is the selecting
of his department heads. If he does this wisely and suc-
cessfully, a good part of his task is done. Having se-
lected them, he must trust, inspire, and lead them. He
must command and retain their confidence and must be
frank with them and fair to them. A successful general
is one under whose leadership a staff and rank and file
will work and die with enthusiasm.

While authority and responsibility must be clearly
defined for executive work, there is, as I have already
pointed out, another type of work which I have called
administrative. It is not altogether possible to define
the authority and responsibility for administrative work.
The responsibility for such work is to some extent joint
with all the higher executives of an organization. The
final decision undoubtedly rests with the head of the
organization, but he will wish to take counsel frequently
with those who are not primarily responsible for the
matter under discussion.

This counsel the chief executive may obtain by dis-
cussions with one individual at a time, possibly asking
the opinion only of those whose judgment concerning the
matter in question is especially valued. Some executives
from temperament or even preference have been known
to follow this plan only.

It is my personal belief that by far the best results
are obtained by Conference. To some minds Conferences
are a waste of time. Much is said that does not appear

[11]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

to bear upon the point under discussion. There is often
a good deal of talk, but when important matters of policy
are to be decided, I feel sure that the time used or even
used up in conferences is very much worth while. When
the chaff has been winnowed out, the wheat will be found.
It is important in a conference that everyone be given
an opportunity to talk at length, that ideas expressed be
listened to with tolerance by all. A prominent man once
said that people's personalities and peculiarities meant no
more to him than the weather. While this is going too
far, nevertheless a conference held with a view to de-
termining policies is not a place where tact and finesse
are so necessary as freedom of speech. I realize that in
business, one-man authority and responsibility, with the
speed of action which results therefrom, is thought by
many to be a great deal more effective than the slower
process of conferences. I feel sure, however, that in an
organization where large matters are at stake and where
military authority and discipline are not required, the
only safe and efficient way to determine policies is to
confer deliberately and at length. Of course, the head
of the organization must finally decide, and after decid-
ing, act with firmness and confidence.

The Uses of Committees

Another type of machinery, excellent for the accom-
plishment of certain results, is the "Committee." A
committee differs in my mind from a conference in that
it usually has definite responsibility and authority and
acts by unanimous or majority vote. The committee
is a slow way of accomplishing results, but where several
branches of an organization are involved and each is
responsible for a part of the answer, it is proper under
some circumstances that the final decision should be
made by a committee in which every part of the organiza-
tion represented thereon assumes joint responsibility.
The race is not always to the swift, and to accomplish
our end which we are constantly keeping in sight, in

[12]

Organization and Executive Work

some circumstances a committee is a splendid piece of
machinery.

A committee, it seems to me, should always have a
chairman. I recall an incident during the war when the
Secretary of War appointed a number of committees,
each composed of representatives of our army and some
of the Allied military representatives who were in Wash-
ington. The committees were appointed without chair-
men. A most distinguished representative of one of our
Allies respectfully suggested to the Secretary that their
experience in the war had shown committees to be of
little value unless a chairman, or at least a "convener,"
were appointed. No action was taken, however, and the
next day the inevitable happened: the committees
failed to meet, no one knew who was to call meetings, and
in fact no one was quite sure who his associates were on
the committees. It was a very striking example of the
failure of committee work to function properly without
a chairman or at least a " convener."

Organization inherently imposes some restrictions
upon freedom. Organization means teamwork, and
teamwork means working for the good of the team. Pride
of authorship, desire to be personally in the limelight,
any tendency to build up one's own reputation by
criticizing or belittling others, are all disastrous to the
successful working of an organization. After all, com-
mon sense and hard work, combined with a sympathetic
consideration for others and pride in the institution will
result in each man going ahead as far as his inherent
abilities will permit, in spite of the size and complexity
of large organizations. " Captains of industry" belong
to the pioneer days that are past. Large modern business
organizations require executives who are also wise
administrators. It is the day of statesmanship in business.

W. S. Gifford.

[13]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Sleet Storms

IT is very pleasant, opening the front door on the
morning after a sleet storm, to look upon the fairy-
land to which the familiar surroundings have been
suddenly transformed. The wind has ceased and the tall
trees, encased in ice which sparkles like diamonds in the
sunlight, are very beautiful as viewed upon their back-
ground of blue sky. Delicate icicles are pendent every-
where and flocculent masses of snow upon bushes and
fences are glazed with a coating of glittering ice enamel.
You observe with some regret how the sleet has crushed
the bushes and that the trees have lost many of their
boughs. However, this does not spoil the frosty splendor
of the morning. Returning indoors you take down your
telephone to find that it is out of commission. The same
sort of icy load which has maimed your trees and hun-
dreds of others in the vicinity has also broken down hun-
dreds— perhaps thousands — of telephone circuits, de-
stroying in a night property which was months or years
in building.

In the early days in the telephone business the ex-
change distribution plant and the toll lines were entirely
aerial and exposed to the weather. As a result of years
of research and development work carried on by tele-
phone engineers, means have been developed whereby
it has become possible to place a great part of the exchange
distribution plant in underground and aerial cables
where it is well protected from damage by sleet storms;
cables have been developed in recent 3rears for toll cir-
cuits which are economical under certain conditions.

Despite the development of greatly improved types
of outside plant and the investment of many millions of
dollars in its installation, there remains and probably
will long remain a very considerable amount of plant
which is exposed to weather conditions. It is not eco-
nomical, even though it might be technically possible, to
provide the extremely expensive types of protected cable
routes unless the number of circuits is sufficiently large to

[14]

Sleet Storms

reduce the cost of their installation and operation to a
point somewhere near the costs of aerial wire circuits;
to do otherwise would result in making the cost of service
too great for the average user.

However, the types of aerial plant now in use are
such as to withstand all weather conditions excepting
storms of a violent character. Sleet storms cause the
most damage and in these days constitute about the only
adversary, short of some general catastrophe, which can
stop the service for more than a very brief space of time.

The Combination of Ice and Wind

The damage done by sleet to the wire plant of a
telephone system is more severe and diasatrous where
the duration of the storm is considerable, especially if
accompanied by high winds. Sleet is by nature the pre-
cipitation of water vapor, condensed in the upper atmos-
phere, which approaches the ground in a partly frozen
condition. Its beginning may be either as rain, in which
case to turn to sleet it must fall into a stratum of air
colder than that in which it originated, or as snow, in
which case the opposite must have taken place; that is,
the snow in its descent must have encountered an air
temperature slightly above freezing point. Under typical
sleet conditions the chilled rain falls upon the trees,
telephone wires and other objects, and through a decline
in the temperature is frozen thereupon. The freezing
process continues as long as the rain continues to fall and
the temperature does not rise. The icy coating may grow
until the accumulated weight becomes enormous and the
stoutest structures barely support their burden.

If sleet falls for a number of hours, each single tele-
phone wire may acquire a solid ice coating three inches
thick vertically and accompanied by even longer icicles.
Whereas the weight of the wires in the normal span
between two poles in a 40 wire lead is less than 200
pounds, such an ice coating may add a weight of about
15,000 pounds to the load supported by each pole. If
a heavy gale is blowing, the pole is further subjected to a

[15]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

bending force due to the wind pressure on the sleet-
covered wires. Subjected to such tremendous stress,
the line frequently fails. When the line might stand the
strain, nearby trees are often crushed or blown down
upon it, bearing it to the ground and smothering it
with masses of shattered boughs. The forces which
nature unloosens in the sleet storm are too powerful for
us to contend with. We have to suffer the blow, be it
what it may, then clear away the debris and make a
fresh start.

Last Winter's Storm Toll

The winter of 1921-22 distinguished itself by some
terrific storms, making it memorable to many thousands
of telephone workers.

On November 27, 28 and 29, 1921, a storm of unusual
violence swept the New England States. This was the
earliest storm of last winter; the latest was on April 10,
1922, when Minnesota and Nebraska were visited by a
storm which destroyed over 21,000 poles of the North-
western Bell Telephone Company, disrupting the tele-
phone service at more than 70 exchanges. On January
25, 1922, a heavy storm traveled Northwest through
North and South Carolina, the sleet continuing inter-
mittently three days and three nights. The City of
Savannah, down in the " Sunny South," was covered
with a mantle of ice. A newspaper account states that
"Fairyland in all its glory could not have presented a
prettier sight." However, the conditions held no charm
for the telephone construction men as the rain continued
for several days after the storm and it was only after the
hardest kind of a fight in rain, mud, slush and swamp
that service was eventually re-established.

In Michigan and Wisconsin a storm of unusual
severity raged over a wide area on February 21st, 22d
and 23d. The damage to the telephone plants in both
of these states was enormous. The Storm King was
evidently not satisfied with his efforts in Michigan, for
on March 29th he most unexpectedly re-visited that

[16]

Sleet Storms

state and again destroyed an immense quantity of plant.
There is room for disagreement with King Sleet as to
the thoroughness of his first onslaught, for he made an
almost complete wreck of the wire systems throughout
the Northern half of the main peninsula of Michigan.
Succeeded as it was by bitter cold and high winds, the
storm cut off from all communication with the outside
world some dozens of cities, towns and hamlets. The
residents of these places were without telephone or
telegraph communication, without mail or railroad service,
without electric light or power. It was dangerous to
walk along the streets because of falling branches, trees,
wires, signs or roofing material. Life in this section
slowed down almost to a standstill. The plants of many
small public utilities were practically wiped out, and in
some cases resulting financial ruin so far deters their
reconstruction.

The Work of Restoration

As the extent of the storm became evident the Mich-
igan State Telephone Company organized for the work
of restoration on a huge scale. Supplies of all sorts in
immense quantity were rushed to strategic points for dis-
tribution, without waiting to learn precisely where and
in what amount the poles, wires and other items would be
required. Crews of men were recruited and equipped
and sent forward by rail as far as possible and thence on
snowshoes. The distribution of the extremely heavy
telephone equipment presented a most difficult task.
Even with chains on all four wheels, trucks could not
operate; horses could not be kept on the roads. Only by
dint of Herculean efforts on the part of the men were the
stores pushed into the devastated districts.

So aggressively, however, was the work carried on
that by the middle of March circuits had been restored
to all Michigan State Telephone Company points. Many
had been re-established it is true in temporary form,
but every town on the Bell routes was again connected
up with the outside world.

[17]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

North of the sleet area in Michigan there was one of
the hardest snowstorms that the inhabitants have any
knowledge of. Snow was piled fifteen and twenty feet
deep. Buildings such as small barns, granaries and coops
were literally buried. It illustrates the difference be-
tween sleet and snow storms that in the snow belt the
Bell toll lines and exchange plant stood up very well,
in contrast to the havoc further South.

Wisconsin's Experience Typical

The conditions in Wisconsin were very similar to
those in Michigan. The following extracts from a report
by the Bell representative at Oshkosh are typical:

"Everybody was on the job early the morning of the twenty-
second and we were all needed. Wires, poles, crossarms and
trees were groaning under their load of solid ice and commenc-
ing to fall. Ole Rasmussen started North on the Marinette
line and got out as far as Jackson Street road, when the big
fifty-foot poles began to fall around him. Ole was completely
penned in with his machine by poles falling in front and behind
him and he was mighty lucky to escape injury or possibly death.
He walked back to the office, delivered his report, then, nothing
daunted, headed North again on foot.

"At 6 P.M. there was no possible way to get word into
headquarters at Appleton; trains were at a standstill, trolley
lines and other modes of transportation out of the question.
One of our men waited all night at the depot, but could get no
information as to the probable movement of trains. On the
morning of the twenty-third, Oscar Bahr and Charles Erbers-
berger volunteered to walk it. They took our reports and in the
teeth of the blizzard they headed North. They fought their
way through and arrived at Neenah at 4 P.M. with a complete
report of line conditions between Fond du Lac and Neenah
which they delivered to the district wire chief, Carl Thomas,
who had come down from Appleton. Oshkosh was in darkness
and there was no power for three days, but thanks to the emer-
gency gas engine we managed to keep things going."

How the storm affected the telephone girls can be
glimpsed from the following report by a supervisor at
Superior, Wis.:

"J. E. Bonnell, district traffic supervisor, Eau Claire dis-
trict, had arrived in Superior early Tuesday afternoon. Upon

[18]

Sleet Storms

attempting to reach the office next morning, he encountered a
large snowdrift immediately in front of the hotel and in the
center of the drift, a young lady, almost exhausted from her
efforts to get through. Investigation disclosed that it was one
of the operators, Miss Crowley, who, notwithstanding her dimi-
nutive size, had battled her way six blocks to get to work. At
about this time, William Deharde, wire chief, came along and
after a time they reached the office. They found the night
force still on duty and in addition the chief operator and as-
sistant and two or three of the day girls. These people were
almost exhausted from their fight to reach the office but were
bravely tackling the job of rendering telephone service to a
storm-bound city. At about 8:30 A.M., twelve girls had ar-
rived and breakfast was obtained for the night force. Folding
cots and blankets were also provided and a supply of dry cloth-
ing for those who had come through the storm. Miss Gilbert,
local supervisor, came in after fighting her way through twenty
blocks of drifts and storm, and after changing to dry clothing
and resting a bit took her place at the board. From this time
on the girls came in one by one, some in overalls and boots,
others in hiking clothes and still others in their ordinary street
clothes; all wet and cold but ready to help in relieving the load
of the others. By eleven a force of twenty-five people had
arrived and in the afternoon six others reported; the load was
being handled in nice shape and the regular reliefs were started.
Those operators who lived within two or three blocks of the
office made their way to their homes to sleep and the balance
either slept on the cots provided at the office or at the hotel.'-'

The Damage in New England

The three days' storm which smote the New England
States in November last, began on Saturday, the 26th,
with a light drizzling rain which continued almost con-
stantly during the next two days. Early Sunday morning
the freezing process began and the rain froze rapidly
upon anything it touched. On Sunday afternoon the
first total telephone failures were reported and by the
early hours of Monday trouble was widespread in general.
The Southern parts of New Hampshire, Vermont and
Maine, all of Massachusetts, except the seacoast, and
portions of Rhode Island and Connecticut were literally
overwhelmed. The country in the afflicted areas looked
much as it must have appeared in the ice age; the sleet-
CIS]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

covered trees looked like glaciers adrift in a sea of ice.
Highways were like rivers of smooth, unbroken ice
bearing the ruin of great trees, thousands of fallen tele-
phone poles and a confusion of debris carried by the
furious wind. Thousands of miles of costly copper wire,
ice-coated, strewed the highways in hopelessly tangled
and twisted masses. The work of clearing the wreckage
and renewing telephone service was both arduous and
dangerous. Work was begun long before daybreak and
continued far into the night. One man tells of seeing
an emergency cable spliced by the light of a bonfire
built of limbs of trees torn off by the storm. At the
time it was bitterly cold and so dark that a man fifteen
feet from the fire was invisible. From the same locality
comes a story of two linemen who carried an emergency
cable through a swamp, waist deep in icy mud, climbed
out, dried off before a roaring fire and resumed their
work. Men frequently labored with trees and wires
falling about them. One foreman saw eighteen poles
come down in a row near where he was working. The
breaking of a pole was accompanied by a crack like the
report of a rifle, followed by a loud crackling as the ice
was shaken from hundreds of feet of telephone wire,
then came a "boom" like the distant roar of a big gun
as the heavy pole crashed to the earth.

Heavy Supply Requirements

The restoration of the Bell telephone service after
the several storms of last winter was in each case effected
with reasonable promptness. The fine spirit of the em-
ployees was everywhere evinced and some idea of the
quantity of materials which the Western Electric Com-
pany was called upon to deliver this winter on emergency
shipments may be had by reference to the following list
of a few principal items ordered following the storms in
New England in November, and in Michigan and Wis-
consin in February:

[20]

Sleet Storms

10,000 poles
20,000 crossarms
42,000,000 feet of bare copper wire
8,000,000 feet of covered wire
420,000 glass insulators

The assembly and shipment of these major items
together with much miscellaneous material was entirely
completed in nine days in each case, more than 50 per
cent, of the whole being shipped in the first three days.

Loss Due to Storms Provided For

The losses in the property investment occasioned
by sleet storms are, under the standard accounting of the
Bell Companies, provided for, like other depreciation
losses, by the reserve for depreciation. Suitable reserves
are, of course, imperative in view of the hazards to
which the telephone plant is exposed, both from the
standpoint of the company, whose property may be
destroyed and revenue cut off, and from that of patrons
whose business and social needs require substantial
continuity of telephone service.

The depreciation reserves of the Bell System are built
up by charging to operating expenses regularly in monthly
installments the amounts necessary, on the average, to
provide for depreciation costs — including those caused
by storms — during the service life of plant. This is the
sound policy for the protection of the investor in Bell
Telephone securities. In its absence the sleet losses of
the past winter would be at this time a most dangerous
and unsettling financial factor. As matters actually
stand, the reserves of the Companies are charged and
will absorb, without detriment to the investors, the entire
storm depreciation costs, which were in excess of $7,500,-
000. This covers only the original cost of the plant
destroyed and the cost of extraordinary repairs, including
temporary facilities used in restoring service, minus net
credits for salvage recovered. While an immediate
expenditure of cash capital is required to reconstruct the

[21]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

plant, this new capital is represented by new plant. In
addition there must be reckoned the very considerable
losses in revenue due to plant being temporarily out of
service. Such losses cannot, of course, be charged as ex-
pense but must be absorbed by the telephone companies
out of their margin of surplus earnings of the past. Of the
total storm destruction mentioned, the New England
Bell Telephone Companies suffered to the extent of more
than one and a half millions of dollars. The damage to
the Long Lines Department of the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company was nearly one million dollars.
The damages to the Wisconsin Telephone Company
and Michigan State Telephone Company were approxi-
mately two millions of dollars. The Northwestern Bell
Telephone Company had over nine hundred thousand
dollars of plant destroyed, and The Pacific Telephone and
Telegraph Company about six hundred thousand dollars.
Not a single Bell Telephone Company in the country
escaped. This storm damage is recognized as a part of
the cost of furnishing telephone service. Some years
it is heavier than others, but it is always a factor.

Allen B. Crtjnden.

[22]

The Recent Parliamentary Investigation
of the Telephone Situation in Great Britain

THE telephone system of Great Britain comprises
about 1,000,000 telephone stations, together with
some 450,000 miles of toll, or " trunk," wires.
The whole telephone plant is now owned by the British
Government, with the exception of the local exchanges
in the city of Hull and on the island of Guernsey in the
English Channel, which are owned by the respective
local authorities. The Government system is operated
by the Post Office, which also operates the national tele-
graph system as well as the postal service.

British Telephone History

While the operation of telephone service in Great
Britain is now practically entirely in the hands of the
Government, the telephone was introduced (in 1878)
and was first developed by private companies. Almost
from the very beginning of the service, however, the
attitude of the Government was distinctly unfavorable
to its development under private auspices. Ten years
before the introduction of the telephone, legislation had
been enacted which declared the operation of public
telegraph service to be a Government monopoly, and the
Government had accordingly acquired the various pri-
vately owned telegraph properties. Telephone service
had not long been in operation before the Postmaster
General secured a court decision to the effect that a tele-
phone system was a telegraph system within the meaning
of the provisions of the Act creating the Government
telegraph monopoly. Upon this decision the Govern-
ment did not at once acquire the private telephone sys-
tems as it was empowered to do, but adopted a policy
of issuing limited licenses to private telephone companies.
The terms of these licenses were such as to impede
rather than to stimulate the development of the telephone
business. They imposed restrictions upon the companies
as to areas of activity and the acquisition of rights-of-

[23]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

way; they levied a substantial royalty upon the gross
earnings of the companies; and, finally, the licenses
terminated in 1911 with no provision for the conduct of
the business thereafter. Even under these restrictive
licenses, however, a number of private companies under-
took to develop telephone service in the various parts of
the country; but by 1892 the various small companies
had been consolidated into the largest company, the
National Telephone Company, Ltd. In 1896 the toll
lines of the National Telephone Company were acquired
by the Government and the operation of the lines there-
after was given over to the Post Office. Local telephone
service, however, was still left in the hands of the Na-
tional Company.

At this stage in the history of British telephony
there arose a theory that competition in the telephone
business would be desirable from the standpoint of both
rates and service; and in 1899 legislation was enacted
permitting municipalities to establish and operate tele-
phone systems in competition with local exchanges of
the National Telephone Company. But while telephone
competition had considerable support in theory, it made
little progress in actual practice. Very few municipalities
took advantage of the legal authority accorded them to
enter the telephone business; and of the municipal
systems actually established only the two already men-
tioned— those at Hull and Guernsey — have survived
up to the present time. In 1900, the Post Office under-
took the construction of a competing exchange in London;
but even before this exchange had been completed and
brought into operation, the Government recognized the
futility of telephone competition and in 1901 made an
agreement with the National Telephone Company
which provided for a division of the London business,
with identical rates and free intercommunication. In
1905 the Government, having definitely decided not to
extend the license of the National Telephone Company,
agreed to purchase the entire property of the Company
at the expiration of its license in 1911. The property

T24]

Telephone Situation in Great Britain

thus acquired, comprising 561,738 stations, was turned
over to the Post Office.

Restrictive Influences upon Telephone
Development

So far as underlying physical and economic condi-
tions are concerned, it might reasonably be expected
that the telephone development of Great Britain would
be as high as, if not higher than, that in any other coun-
try in the world. The territory of Great Britain is
compact and is densely inhabited by a homogeneous
population; her activities are chiefly industrial and com-
mercial, and she ranks high in point of national wealth.
As a matter of fact, however, the telephone develop-
ment of Great Britain is exceeded by that of a number
of other foreign countries, and in comparison with that
in the United States is very low indeed. At the end of
1921 the number of telephones per 100 population was
only 2.2 in Great Britain, as against 12.8 in the United
States.

It is perhaps true that the British people are char-
acterized by a certain conservatism towards the adoption
of new methods, such as those involved in a widespread
use of the telephone. But the failure of Great Britain
to attain a telephone development commensurate with
her natural advantages may be attributed only in small
part to the influence of national habits. Undoubtedly
the chief causes of the relative backwardness of British
telephone development are to be found in conditions
arising out of the relationship of the Government to
the service. Governmental authority assumed virtual
control of the telephone when the new art was first
introduced into the country. The Government at once
committed itself to a policy which, by the restrictive
provisions incorporated in the franchises of the com-
panies, distinctly hampered the free development of
the service by private enterprise. By the time that
efficient and adequate toll service had become an im-
portant factor in stimulating telephone growth, the

[25]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Government had already acquired all the toll lines of the
country and development was retarded by an insufficiency
of toll facilities, with resulting adverse reactions upon
service, which still persists. Moreover, at the stage of
telephone progress when, judging from experience in the
United States, a very rapid expansion, aided by proper
rate policies, might have been expected through the
extension of the service among the smaller users — with
the consequent increase in the value of the service to
the larger users — the Government further restricted the
incentive of private enterprise by indicating that the
National Telephone Company's license would not be
extended after its expiration in 1911. The actual ac-
quisition by the Government of the entire control and
operation of the service in 1911 was a natural culmina-
tion of a policy adopted thirty years previously.

The Latest Parliamentary Investigation

Public dissatisfaction with the British telephone
service has been vigorously expressed for years. This
dissatisfaction has been evidenced by constant criticism
on the part of the press, by frequent complaints by public
bodies, and by investigations by special committees of
Parliament. The adverse criticism has been directed
not against the character of the plant and equipment,
which is in general comparable with the character of the
physical property of the telephone systems in this coun-
try, but rather against the defects in the scheme of
administrative organization of the service and the re-
sultant limitations upon efficient and economical oper-
ation. The purpose of this article, however, is not to
analyze the deficiencies which have been pointed out in
these criticisms, but merely to consider the more im-
portant aspects of the present telephone situation in so
far as they are disclosed by the recent report of the latest
Parliamentary investigation.

In 1920, a proposal involving further considerable
general increases in telephone rates — a substantial in-
crease in rates had been effected during the war period —

[26]

Telephone Situation in Great Britain

was brought forward by the Post Office authorities after
an investigation by a Departmental Committee on Tele-
phone Rates. Strong public opposition to this proposal
developed, and a Parliamentary committee was ap-
pointed, which, after a short investigation, approved
the increases desired by the Post Office; and these in-
creases were put into full effect April 1, 1921. Public
dissatisfaction with the new rates continued, however,
and assumed such proportions that the Government
felt it advisable to have a second Parliamentary com-
mittee appointed "to inquire into the organisation and
administration of the Telephone Service and the method
of making charges." This committee was not able to
complete its work before the close of the Parliamentary
session of 1921, and early in 1922 its members were re-
appointed to constitute a third committee to complete
the investigations of the second committee and to report
its findings upon those matters which had been included
within the scope of the second committee's inquiry.

In March, 1922, this third committee submitted a
report* embodying its conclusions based upon the vo-
luminous testimony taken by its predecessors, including
memoranda of investigations made by members and
representatives sent to the Continent and to the United
States.

There is no indication that the Committee was
influenced by political considerations; its report was a
unanimous one, and impartiality and breadth of view are
evident throughout its pages. This fact is important,
because the impartiality and thoroughness of the Com-
mittee not only lend added weight to its formal con-
clusions, but also put significance into some statements
in its report which might otherwise pass with little
notice. At the same time, it should be borne in mind
that the members of the Committee were, of course, not
experienced in telephone operations; however, their sug-
gestions as to the organization and business aspects of the

*Report from the Select Committee on the Telephone Service 1922,
together with the Proceedings of the Committee. Ordered, by the House of
Commons, to be printed, 20th March, 1922.

[27]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

telephone service can undoubtedly be regarded as well
founded.

At the very beginning of the Committee's report
occurs this significant statement:

"Before dealing in detail with the terms of the reference,
it seems proper to mention one observation or conclusion which
has a general bearing. We have been impressed with the ca-
pacity, assiduity and single-mindedness of the officials of the
Post Office who have given testimony before us. They are men
devoted to the public service, keenly watchful for its welfare,
well skilled in their calling, untiring in their efforts, and with an
intimate knowledge of their duties. Yet there is something
wanting. No one acquainted with the evidence before your
Committee can fail to be struck with the almost universal
antagonism — often, it may be, unreasonable — manifested so
widely and persistently against British telephone administra-
tion. From study of or personal experience in the Scandinavian
kingdoms your Committee learn that this spirit is not so preva-
lent there, nor in Canada, nor in the United States, nor in
Switzerland. The public in those countries are more disposed
to approve the telephone management, and when they do not,
they enter, in a sense, into friendly partnership with it to discuss
alterations and devise improvements. In the British Isles this
disposition is conspicuously absent. The public have little
mind to help the Post Office, which we think unfortunate; the
Post Office, on the other hand, have given some ground for
saying that it appears to believe that the public was made for
the Post Office, and not the Post Office for the public. It tends
too much to a cast-iron application of regulations in an improper
way. We do not wish to lay undue stress upon these character-
istics, but we cannot leave them out of sight in submitting this
Report."

The above passage is significant in emphasizing
the necessity for the cultivation of good relations be-
tween a public service and the public served.

Matters of Organization

In dealing in detail with the question of the organ-
ization of the telephone service, the most important
aspect which is discussed in the Committee's report is
the proposal, often made before, that the operation of
the telephone and telegraph services be separated from
that of the postal service. The Committee recognized

[28]

Telephone Situation in Great Britain

that the wire services are commercial in character to a
greater degree than the mail service, and are much more
technical. To quote —

" We have given much consideration to the question whether
the Telegraph and Telephone Departments of the Post Office
should be separated from the Postal Department or not. So far
back as 1898 a Select Committee on Telephones reported with
reference to telephone competition that it should be carried on
by a distinct and separate branch of the Post Office, and should
in future be conducted under strictly business-like conditions by
a staff specially qualified for such a duty. This recommendation
seems to have been put aside on the ground that the telegraph
service had been merged into the postal service, and that there
were serious objections to separating the department which was
responsible for telephones from that directing the telegraphs.
At that period this fortuitous combination of circumstances may
have been natural, but we think it was a mischance for the
telephones. In Sweden, Norway and Denmark the telegraph
and telephone department is quite separate from that of the
mails, and after years of experience this arrangement is in those
countries held to be entirely justified. In Canada and the
United States the mails are in the hands of the State, and the
telegraphs and telephones are under private management with a
certain degree of State control or regulation; and the marked
progress of telephone development in all these countries is
quoted as showing that the telephone administration has been
handicapped in this country by its association with the mails.
In the United Kingdom the carriage of letters has always been
upheld as the main foundation on which Post Office manage-
ment rests, and when the telegraph and telephone undertakings
were in turn transferred to the Post Office, it seems to have been
decided to patch them into the existing organisation rather than
to alter the organisation to suit the extended conditions. This
plan cannot rightly subsist if great telephone extension is the
need of the country and should be its policy. Telephone business
is essentially commercial, and if it is to be developed adequately
it must be administered on commercial and somewhat inde-
pendent lines. The official Post Office witnesses stated in evi-
dence that the separation would involve great difficulties, while
other competent representative authority supports it.

"Your Committee consider that the re-organisation of the
telephone administration on more commercial lines is the
fundamental requirement for efficient development, and that if
it is carried out wisely it will prove a solution of most of the
failings which have been disclosed. They accordingly recom-

[29]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

mend the separation of the telegraph and telephone department
on the one hand from that of the mails on the other."

In suggesting methods whereby its recommendation
as to the separation of the wire services from the postal
service might be effected, the Committee recommends
the creation of a Department of Communications organ-
ized along functional lines — at least in so far as super-
visory positions are concerned — the development of
this organization to be entrusted "to a body largely
composed of men of wide administrative experience not
connected with the Civil Service."

The only other point of general interest in the report
in regard to organization is a brief but perhaps significant
reference by the Committee to the possibility of turning
the telephone service back to private operation:

"There is another topic which should be touched upon
under the heading of organisation. It is not within our reference
to consider the restoration of the telephone service to private
enterprise, for which practically all United States authorities
claim advantages. "

Matters of Administration

Under the heading of administration, the Committee
discussed many matters, chief among which from the
standpoint of interest to telephone men in the United
States is the matter of service in rural areas.

The almost total failure of the British Post Office to
provide service for the population of the rural areas is
well known. Indeed, rural development is practically
unknown, or at least entirely inadequate, in the case of
nearly every country in which telephone service is oper-
ated by the Government, largely because the needs of
the farmers have not been properly considered in the
preparation of Government rate schedules. This fact
is recognized by the Committee, which takes the position,
in general, that if the Post Office itself is not prepared to
furnish service in ruralareas, it should not unreasonably
restrict the initiative , of the farmers in arranging to
provide telephone service for themselves:

[30]

Telephone Situation in Great Britain

"Another fundamental question of policy is the following.
It must be definitely determined whether the Post Office tele-
phone administration is to be entirely responsible for the de-
velopment of all telephone service, or should on occasions let
someone else perform it under Post Office sanction. Take, by
way of illustration, sparsely-populated agricultural districts. Is
the Post Office to employ its own official exclusively to maintain
the service, or ought it to delegate a certain amount of responsi-
bility to the subscribers themselves? Upon the correct solution
of the problem here involved hangs largely the future of rural
telephone development.* * * The witness who represented the
National Farmers' Union advocated semi-private lines under
Government supervision or licence, and seemingly desired that
farmers should put up the wires and maintain the line. In
Canada and the United States there are hundreds of small rural
telephone companies or groups whfMe the members construct
and operate a telephone system for their own use, linking up
with the central system and paying a flat rate of from $3 to $9
per telephone for switching service. * * *

"Your Committee are of opinion that the Post Office has
not taken a sufficiently broad view of this general question of
rural telephone development, and has failed to realise that the
advantages of extending the system into rural areas are shared
by other classes of subscribers. It is incumbent on our telephone
administration to have a definite policy of development, and it
should consider how far, in the interests of the system as a
whole, it is prepared to go towards making the telephone service
available throughout the Kingdom at a cost within reach of the
inhabitants of rural areas. In other countries the initiative is
usually taken by the prospective subscribers, and, though
allowance must be made for different national characteristics,
your Committee believe that a great deal might be done in
country districts here to stimulate greater co-operative
effort."

American telephone men will naturally agree with
the principle involved in the Committee's recommenda-
tions as to the employment of private initiative in the
development of rural areas. Even under British condi-
tions, however, there are probably two sides to the
proposition somewhat timidly advanced by the Com-
mittee that municipalities and other local authorities
not necessarily in rural areas be permitted to meet their
own telephone needs under certain circumstances and

[31]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

with certain safeguards. It seems significant that the
Committee should recommend that:

"Any area should be allowed to become responsible for its
own telephone system on condition that it can show that (i) tele-
phone facilities are not available at reasonable rates; (ii) a
responsible authority is prepared to undertake the work;
(iii) proper financial guarantees are forthcoming; and (iv)
definite plans and estimates have been prepared, and oppor-
tunity given to the Post Office for approval or criticism. Should
the purchase of existing plant be contemplated, the value would
be assessed by the Railway and Canal Commission unless the
parties could agree upon the price to be paid. If new plant is
required, it might be supplied at cost price through the Post
Office, which by reason of the large purchases the Post Office
makes ought in ordinary circumstances to be at less cost than
the responsible authority could purchase for themselves."

It is also interesting to note that the Committee
made no sweeping declaration either in favor of or against
automatic telephony. After briefly commenting on this
type of apparatus, the report states:

"The quality of the service is a point on which public
opinion has a right to be heard, but the means of attaining it is
a technical matter which is chiefly one for the administration."

In the domain of finance, the Committee was naturally
desirous of suggesting possibilities for reductions in
expenses which would permit a general rate reduction;
the report, however, contains only two recommendations
of this character. First, it recommends that there be a
substantial reduction in the amounts currently charged
against revenue in respect of depreciation. The reasoning
behind this recommendation is by no means clear, and
it is impossible without more information on the ac-
counts and finances of the system in recent years than
has been made public to reach a definite conclusion as to
the soundness of the Committee's views in this technical
matter. Second, the Committee recommends a change
in accounting practice by which the overhead expenses
in connection with new construction and renewals would
be charged to capital account and to the " Depreciation

[32]

Telephone Situation in Great Britain

Account," respectively, instead of being "debited to
the year's revenue" as is the present practice. So far
as the brief reference to the matter in the report permits
conclusions to be drawn, and without a clear understand-
ing of the term "overhead expenses" as used, the changes
involved in this recommendation appear to be in accord
with the Bell System accounting practice whereby cer-
tain overhead expenses are distributed over direct
charges to Construction, Removal and Maintenance
costs — the portion cleared to Removal expense being
charged ultimately to the Depreciation Reserve. The
Committee estimated that the reductions in operating
expenses that would result from the adoption of these
recommendations would be equivalent to a horizontal
rate reduction of probably not less than 8 per cent.

Before leaving the subject of administration, the
Committee cited an example of the unfavorable reaction
of deficient administration upon service:

"Delays in transmission are traceable to several sources,
the chief among them being an insufficiency of trunk lines. The
trunk system, which has been operated by the Post Office since
1896, is admitted by them to compare unfavourably with the long
distance service in America, and your Committee believe the
main cause to be that the Post Office do not persistently grasp
the fact that the public will not freely use the system unless they
can rely upon prompt communication at the lowest possible
tariff, and that the provision of really adequate facilities creates
a demand for trunk service."

Rate Matters

In considering the comments and recommendations
of the Committee in regard to telephone rates, it should
be remembered that the rates in effect at the time of
the Committee's inquiry were substantially those pro-
posed by the Post Office Departmental Committee on
Telephone Rates in 1920 and put into full effect April 1,
1921. These rates put every subscriber in Great Britain
upon a readiness-to-serve charge system of rates, with-
out differentiation between business and residence service.

[33]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

The readiness-to-serve charge was $37.40 (£8-10-0) in
London; $35.20 (£8-0-0) in the largest four cities except
London (Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool and Man-
chester); and $33.00 (£7-10-0) in all other places. The
rate for each local call was 2% cents (lj^d.) and was the
same throughout Great Britain. Party lines were not
provided for, except in the case of subscribers distant
more than a mile from a central office.

It would be interesting to undertake a detailed com-
parison of telephone rates in Great Britain and in the
United States. It is obvious, however, that such a
comparison would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossi-
ble, since proper allowance cannot be made for the in-
fluence of such factors as the difference in price levels
between the two countries, the radical difference be-
tween the structures of the rate systems, and the equally
important differences in the scope and quality of service
provided under the rates. Nevertheless, it is possible
to compare approximately the average telephone rate
increases which have taken place in the two countries
since the beginning of the World War. In Great Britain
the increases carried by the rates introduced on April 1,
1921, brought exchange rates to a level officially esti-
mated to be 80 per cent, over pre-war and brought toll
rates to about 100 per cent, above pre-war. In the
United States the exchange rates of the Bell System
were only about 35 per cent, higher at the end of 1921
than in 1914, while the toll rates were only about 20
per cent, higher.

In setting up their rate system, the Departmental
Committee on Telephone Rates was largely influenced
by the cost-of-service theory of rate-making. The
Committee attacks this theory in the very first para-
graph of that section of its report which deals with rates,
quoting with approval an American statement made in
1901, or over 20 years ago, that "it is wise and just to
base rates on other considerations than cost" in large
as well as small communities. In the Committee's own
words :

[34]

Telephone Situation in Great Britain

"The preceding observations bring into prominence the
conclusion that general telephone extension and rural telephone
development are very closely allied, because rural development
has little chance of taking place freely without distribution of
expenses on the basis, just suggested, of value for services
rendered. * * * It is an acknowledged circumstance that a high
development in residence telephones is a great factor in accelerat-
ing general development, and this consideration leads to the
prevalent practice in Canada, the United States, and other
countries of offering residence connections at lower rates than
business connections, although such a course cannot always be
justified on a cost basis. * * *

" It is no doubt easier to make a uniform rate which applies
to the whole of Great Britain. * * * But the inflexibility of such
a rate militates against development, as it ignores local condi-
tions and the linking-up of community of interests which can so
judiciously foster it. In agricultural districts, for instance,
communication with a market town is often a crucial matter,
and such rates cannot be satisfactory if based on absolute
distance. Numerous instances of hardship inflicted by the
rigid application of one adamantine rule for differing conditions
have been brought before us. Forcible argument has been
adduced against rural areas, which have natural disadvantages
arising from few or remote subscribers, having to pay the same
uniform rate as in town areas. If they cannot be supplied more
cheaply, they ask to be allowed to try for themselves. While
your Committee fully recognise the necessity for basic principles,
the application of these principles to local requirements should
be a matter of careful study with a view to obtaining the maxi-
mum traffic at the lowest possible cost."

These are strong statements, but there will be little
inclination on the part of telephone men in this country
to dispute the principles which they express, or to dis-
agree as to the restrictive effect upon development of the
kind of rate schedule to which they refer.

In regard to the total abolition of flat rates in all
exchanges and the setting up of a universal system of
readiness-to-serve charges with no differentiation be-
tween business and residence service, which were effected
by the April 1, 1921, rate change, the recommendations
of the Committee are either not comprehensive or not
technically sound. The utmost that the Committee
felt able to recommend is the following (" message rate"

[35]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

being the equivalent of " readiness-to-serve " in Bell
System terminology) :

"Your Committee, after giving their most careful attention
to all the above considerations, have arrived at the following
conclusions: — (i) We recommend that the message rate be the
broad basis of any method of charging; (ii) we are convinced
that for business lines in a large city the flat rate stands con-
demned, while for very small places or for residences in restricted
areas, although theoretically objectionable, it may be the means
of accelerating development; and (iii) on the ground that de-
velopment will be encouraged, we think that, without departing
very largely from the basis of the message rate, some principle of
differentiation or elasticity is desirable, as, for instance, by
charging a lower annual installation rental for residences than for
business premises."

Experience in the United States indicates that the
conclusion that the readiness-to-serve charge system of
rates is the proper basis for charging is fundamentally
incorrect. Such a system of rates restricts use of the
telephone to a marked extent, thereby reducing the
value of the service and tending to restrict development.
It would appear that the desire of the Committee, fre-
quently expressed in its report, that telephone service
should be widely distributed in Great Britain is not
likely to be realized under such a rate system.

The final conclusion of the Committee as to rate
reductions, which is of a very general character and is
based apparently upon their consideration of possible
reductions in operating expenses, is given in the following
statement:

"If our conclusions are approved, we recommend an im-
mediate reduction of 10 per cent, on subscribers' accounts
provisionally and without prejudice to any subsequent rear-
rangement to carry out our recommendations."

The Committee's report ends with the following
comment:

"Your Committee are very much alive to the fact that the
financial success of some of these recommendations is dependent
upon a better spirit of co-operation between the Post Office and
the public. To secure this success a more sjTnpathetic recogni-

[36]

Telephone Situation in Great Britain

tion is vital by the Post Office, on the one hand, that the public
are human beings with human feelings and frailties, and not
mere automatons for making the telephone accounts balance;
and by the public, on the other, that there are often real hidden
technical difficulties and that an attitude of chronic suspicion
does not help to solve them."

The Aftermath of the Investigation

Just what will be the ultimate effect of the findings
and recommendations of the Committee upon the future
administration of telephone affairs still remains to be
seen. As regards telephone rates, a downward revision
of rates to take effect July 1st of this year was announced
by the Post Office shortly after the publication of the
Committee's report, this revision apparently being based
upon the decline in wages, amounting to about 20 per
cent., which has arisen out of the reduction of cost
of living bonuses which has followed the fall in prices.
However, the announcement of the new rates indicates
that no change in the readiness-to-serve charge system
of local rates has been made, except that a moderate
differential has been provided in the readiness-to-
serve charge as between business service and residence
service.

As regards the organization and administration of the
service, Post Office authorities have definitely stated
that the Committee's proposal for the separation of the
wire services from the postal service will not be accepted;
and, so far as is known, no official action has been
taken as to any of the other vital improvements which
were so forcefully recommended in the Committee's
report.

In its report, the Committee was not slow to praise
American telephone organization and its results; and
the telephone men and women of the United States may
rightfully feel gratified at the favorable recognition
accorded by the Committee to the service, development
and administrative methods for which they are responsi-
ble. However, when the adoption of American methods

[37]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

is recommended in government organizations, the in-
flexibility of governmental institutions proves an in-
surmountable barrier.

S. L. Andrew.

Editorial Note:

It is difficult to reach an exact conclusion as to the amount of
reduction in the new rates, announced by the Postmaster General
to take effect July 1st, as compared with the rates which were super-
seded. Apparent^, however, the new rates still leave the general
level of exchange rates about 60 per cent., and of toll rates about
80 per cent., higher than before the War. The following extract
from a debate in the House of Commons on May 4th on Post Office
affairs shows that some of the suggestions made by the Parliamentary
Committee were considered by the Post Office in determining the
new rates, and also illustrates some of the difficulties which arise
in attempts to compare British rates with American rates:

"The Postmaster General (Mr. Kellaway):

"I come now to a part of the service which has always occupied my
mind a good deal, and that is the provision of improved telephone facili-
ties in the country districts. The present charges are undoubtedly
prohibitive, and amount in a great number of cases to a rental of as much
as £20 (§88.00) per annum. This is due to the fact that you have heavy
capital charges in connection with most of the rural extensions. The
Select Committee attach great importance to this point, and I have been
influenced a great deal by their recommendation on this subject in the
proposal which I am about to make. Where not less than eight sub-
scribers can be obtained the rental will be £8 ($35.20). The instalment
rental will be £8 (S35.20) per subscriber, the local and trunk fees being
charged according to the ordinary tariff, and in the case of subscribers
at a distance of more than one mile extra mileage will be charged at the
standard rate. I think that is a very substantial reduction compared
with the present rates. (An Hon. Member: 'What is the amount of
the reduction?') The present charge is £20 ($88.00) and it is proposed
to reduce it to £8 ($35.20), and therefore the amount of the reduction is
£12 ($52.80). A day sendee only will be provided for this class of users,
but the cost of the night service, if required, can be met by an additional
charge on the subscribers themselves.

"Lieut. Colonel Wheler* 'What does a day service actually mean?'

"Mr. Kellaway: From 9 A.M. to 7 or 8 P.M. It will be necessary
in this case to ask for an agreement for a minimum of three or eight years,
according to the capital cost involved."

(Rates in Great Britain have been converted into TJ. S. dollars at
the current rate of exchange.)

[38]

Conference of Personnel Group

IF anybody was to ask me what was discussed at the
recent conference of the Personnel Group which I
had the privilege of attending in April, I should
answer in two words — "Team Work." The conference
held continuous sessions for a week and all of the papers
and the discussion dealt with team work and the results
which can be accomplished through it — team work be-
tween all employees and all departments; team work,
which involves everyone from the j^oungest splicer's
helper to the superintendent of plant; from the newest
operator to the superintendent of traffic; from the clerk
last enrolled in the commercial office to the general
commercial superintendent; from the office boy to the
general manager and the president. Team work was dis-
cussed from every point of view: from the point of view
of the morale which must go with it; of the confidence
there must be between the various individuals of the
organization and the various sections of the organization;
from the point of view of the information that the mem-
bers of the team must have as to objectives, and from the
point of view of what the objectives themselves were and
should be.

Comparatively speaking, the team work of the Bell
System has always been good. The system has been
noted among industrial and public service corporations
for this characteristic. During and immediately subse-
quent, to the war, however, there was a general let-down
in the morale of all organizations and the Bell System
was not free from the effect of these influences. Im-
mediately after the management of the telephone prop-
erties was returned from Federal control by the Post-
master-General, an intensive study of this question was
taken up and efforts were made throughout the whole
Bell System, not only to restore the morale and the team
work to the pre-war standards, but to exceed these
standards wherever possible, and without question it is
always possible to exceed a team work standard, because

[39]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

it is impossible to conceive of team work which is so
perfect that it cannot be better.

The record of achievement which was reported at the
conference was truly a remarkable one, not only in what
had already been accomplished, but in the clear indica-
tions of what still can be attained by continued and
further applications of the work discussed. What took
place at the conference may be naturally divided into
three parts.

First — reports by representatives of the general staff
in regard to the objectives and plans in connection with
operation and the part that employees' representation
could take in assisting in the attaining of these objectives.
Mr. R. H. Burcher, Assistant Vice President, presented a
paper on " Operating Objectives of the Bell System and
How and Where Personnel and Public Relations Activities
Can Help to Attain Them." Mr. R. F. Estabrook,
Traffic Results Engineer, presented a paper entitled,
"Carrying Out the Public Relations and Personnel
Relations Policies in Traffic Work," and Mr. F. P.
Valentine, Assistant Commercial Engineer, gave a paper
on "Some Business Aspects of Telephone Operations."

These papers combined gave a picture of the operating
problems from the Plant, Traffic and Commercial stand-
points, discussing the objectives and showing how through
team work and the cooperation of all results could be
obtained which otherwise were not obtainable.

Second — were a number of papers of operating
officials of various Associated Companies dealing with the
work already accomplished through employee representa-
tion. Mr. H. L. Badger, General Superintendent of
Plant, Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, de-
scribed employee representation in the Plant Department
of that company. Mr. Verne Ray, Superintendent of
Maintenance, Illinois Bell Telephone Company, described
the operation of the public relations committees and the
pink ticket plan in use in Chicago. Employee repre-
sentation in the Traffic Department of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company was discussed by

L40]

Conference of Personnel Group

Mr. J. L. R. Van Meter, General Traffic Manager of the
Long Lines Department, and the operation of service
committees in the Traffic Departments was described by
Mr. R. L. Barrows, General Supervisor of Traffic, Bell
Telephone Company of Pennsylvania; Mr. Hermann
Thomas, General Supervisor of Employment, Long
Lines Traffic Department, American Telephone and
Telegraph Company, and Mr. B. J. Bowen, General
Superintendent of Traffic, New England Telephone and
Telegraph Company. "Demonstration Switchboards —
Their Usefulness with Employees and the Public," was
presented by the Honorable Franz C. Kuhn, President of
the Michigan State Telephone Company.

Third — were papers which dealt particularly with
team work for other than the operating features of the
telephone problem. The Hon. D. F. Houston, President
of the Bell Telephone Securities Company, gave a talk on
telephone financing and sale of preferred stock to sub-
scribers ; Mr. W. P. Banning, of the Information Depart-
ment of the American Telephone and Telegraph Com-
pany, talked on "Motion Pictures for Employees and the
Public," and Mr. W. J. O'Connor, of the Southwestern
Bell Telephone Company, on the "How and Why of Per-
sonnel Work in the Bell System."

The papers referred to above, all of which except Mr.
Houston's have been printed and distributed, by no
means include all that came before the conference. Oral
reports were made by many operating officials and others
of the results which they had been obtaining. These
reports were equally as interesting as the papers, and even
they left undescribed much which is going on in various
companies. Mr. J. P. Downs, General Traffic Manager
of the New York Telephone Company, discussed public
relations work in the Traffic Department of that com-
pany, and Mr. W. H. Winter, General Superintendent
of Plant of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada, made
a most interesting statement as to the results of work
through employees' representatives in the plant depart-
ment of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada.

[41]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Reversing the usual procedure of former conferences
of the Personnel Group, this conference was developed
along the lines of a report to the Personnel Representa-
tives of the Bell System, from people directly concerned
with operating conditions, as to what had already been
accomplished through personnel work to improve the
morale and team work within the system and to improve
public relations through the contacts of the operating
departments with the public, together with numerous
suggestions as to what might be accomplished in the
future.

The records presented definitely established the
following facts with reference to the efforts to secure
better team work. That it has resulted in a higher degree
of satisfaction on the part of every employee in his work;
that it is a powerful aid to greater efficiency and economy
in the day to day operations of the business and in im-
proving its public relations, and that in the future, to an
even greater degree than in the past, the ability to
effectively lead in such work will be among the important
characteristics which will be found in successful operating
executives.

Another vital fact which was definitely established by
the record seems to me to be that under the right treat-
ment and given proper information in regard to the
business and their relations to it, all employees
appreciate as never before that their interests are identical
with the interests of the management, the owners,
and the public, and depend in the long run upon
the success of the enterprise. One of the most striking
features brought out has been the response of the general
forces to the information given them enabling them to ap-
preciate their relations to the large objectives of the busi-
ness. The response of the general forces to such informa-
tion indicates perhaps that there has not been in the past
a full appreciation of the high intelligence and the keen
interest which the general forces take in their jobs. In
some cases it may have been felt that the younger forces
especially would not understand or be interested in

[42]

Conference of Personnel Group

facts about the business, but recent experience shows
they are not only interested, but can deal with the facts
skillfully and helpfully once they get them. All of the
general forces are essentially the same type of human
beings as the supervisory forces (most of whom have
been developed from the general forces) and while they
may not in most cases have had the same opportunities
or experiences, they are working for the same objectives
and, if they have the proper information in regard to the
business, with the same and often with even greater
enthusiasm.

I know that every man and woman at the conference,
left deeply impressed with the effectiveness of "team
work" and determined that in the Bell System, we should
work to the end that each member of the organization
should know the objective of the business so as to do,
understanding^, his or her part of the work and be able
to contribute in the highest degree to the ideal "Good
service, continuously rendered at as low rates as con-
sistent with a fair return to the owners."

Bancroft Gherardi.

[43]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Business Principles in Organization
Practice

CONSIDERATION of many telephone problems,
and close contact with a large number of tele-
phone men, has led to the belief that the following
observations, by no means new, are worth reiteration.

In nearly all countries the telephone service, whether
privately or governmentally operated, is furnished, in
principle at least, as a commercial service in the sense that
it is expected to be self-supporting. When governments
operate, the theory is avowed that the service should
neither be a charge upon the general revenues of the
government, nor a substantial contributor to the general
revenues. In practice, the government-operated systems
do not succeed as businesses, and fail either to be self-
supporting or to be adequate from a service standpoint.

In the United States, telephone service is not only
furnished as a commercial service, but it is successfully
operated as a business. It is almost universally the
opinion of telephone men in this country, based on
observation, comparison and experience, that telephone
service can be and is best rendered as a commercial
service. This means that the service is best managed in
accordance with business principles.

The organization of the Bell System is such as to
promote the conduct of the telephone business as a whole
in this country along sound business lines to a greater
extent than probably obtains in any other industry in the
country. Despite the fact that this organization is
nicely adjusted to facilitate the conduct of the enter-
prise as a whole along consistently sound business lines,
the necessity for sound business management, particu-
larly in local operations, should be continually emphasized.
The size of the organization, its subjection to public
regulation, the necessity for great specialization in the
work for technical reasons, and the requirement of
universal service, are all factors which tend to obscure
the essential character of local operations, and to make

[44]

Business Principles in Organization Practice

difficult under many conditions the application of busi-
ness principles in detail.

Progress a Business Necessity

The most important principle in any business is that
it must persistently progress. I doubt if any useful
business, regardless of its character, can be successfully
continued except on the basis of fundamental progress.
This progress must be real. In practical terms, it means
that product must be improved and real prices reduced.
In the telephone business, it means that the ultimate
objective of the entire organization in doing the day's
work is that service will be better and cheaper as time
goes on. Such progress has consistently been made by
the Bell System from the beginning. Telephone service
was never better, more extensive, or so cheap as it is
today; and such nominal increases in rates as have been
necessary in very recent years do not refute this state-
ment, for they have not approached the corresponding
change in the value of money.

The necessity for fundamental progress as a business
proposition will hardly be questioned. The essential
problem of business management is to accomplish this
progress in a balanced and systematic way. Net earnings
must always be adequate, or retrogression, not progress,
is the immediate result. Service should not be improved
without regard to the value of the improvement to the
public, or without regard to the cost to be borne by the
public; nor should costs be decreased at the expense of
adequate service. The standard of transmission, the
speed of answer, the speed of installation, the speed of
maintenance, the frequency of directories, the terms of
credit, the quantities of spare, the flexibility of plant and
of organization — these are a few of innumerable cases
where the essential problem is one of business management.
The correct solution is a continuing problem, calling for
constant adjustment for differing and for changing con-
ditions. The objective is constantly to increase the value
of service, not merely or necessarily to make it technically

[45]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

perfect; and to reduce costs by increase in efficiency, not
by reduction of service.

The two most important single factors, from the stand-
point of organization, in the progressive reduction in cost
and improvement of service simultaneously, have been
the functional organization of operations, and the central-
ization of development work, which is correspondingly
functionalized. Without these two organization develop-
ments, it seems certain that progress in the business
could not be had, or would be disastrously limited. They
have almost automatically made progress; but they must
be perfected to result in the coordination of technical and
functional progress to business and service progress as a
whole.

Improving Functional Organization

It seems to me that continued and ■ intensive atten-
tion is required that may be described as effort in the
direction of perfecting the functional organization. This
effort must be exercised along three different lines.
The first two have been given a great deal of consid-
eration, and will be only briefly mentioned here. The
last method is one to which I believe special emphasis
is due now.

1. Maintenance of cooperative attitude between
department officials.

2. Establishment of interdepartmental instructions
that provide improved methods of interdepart-
mental work, and of departmental instructions
that facilitate businesslike treatment of depart-
mental and interdepartmental business.

3. Development of the practice of promoting and
transferring men to different departments.

The first method has to do with supervision, education,
morale, and team play; the second with forms of organiza-
tion, authorities, and organization machinery; and the
third with the qualifications of men and the training of
management personnel.

[46]

Business Principles in Organization Practice

From the business standpoint, the test of every
functional officer should be first as to his telephone
business qualifications. He must, of course, be able to
conduct functional activities expertly, but he must be
able to make the functional performance harmonize with
and contribute to the business and broad service ob-
jective, and so as not to conflict with and detract from the
results as a whole. Men must not be known merely as
accountants, traffic men, plant men, commercial men,
engineers, but first as good telephone men assigned to
the management of accounting work, traffic work, plant
work, commercial work, engineering work.

Advantages of Experience

Good telephone business men are not made by calling
them by new names. The name must be justified by the
fact. One of the methods of securing the proper develop-
ment of telephone business men is to avoid extremes in the
confinement of men to single functions. There will always
be a reluctance to transfer men from one function to
another, or for men to welcome transfer, because of the
loss in technical proficiency temporarily suffered, and
because some uncertainty is inevitably involved in any
change. It will be necessary to take a broad attitude, and
to insist that to attain exceptional technical proficiency,
at the expense of adequate all-around business sense in
the organization, retards business and individual progress.

It is especially true that in the commercial depart-
ment, all-around telephone business men are required.
In general, men can more safely be relied upon to properly
represent the Company or to advise soundly on local
telephone business problems, who know the telephone
business as well as outside conditions and how to deal
with them. Good traffic men and good plant men who
like affairs in general and individual and mass contact
with the public, should be given opportunities to manage
the "commercial" part of telephone work. This pro-
motes the business as a whole, and therefore the proper
development of true departmental efficiency.

[47] ,

Bell Telephone Quarterly

The job is to find out what the people want to buy, to
sell what they want to buy without asking them to pay
for what they don't want, and to produce it and deliver
it in a manner satisfactory to the buyers, so that they
will be glad to pa}^ for it. To do this better everj^ year is
good business and good service. Nothing else is either
good business or good service. This is the standard we
set ourselves in serving the public, and should be the first
to consider in shaping organization and in selecting the
management personnel.

C. I. Barnard.

[48]

Progress in Cooperation with the National
Electric Light Association

THE annual convention of the National Electric
Light Association held at Atlantic City in May
marked another milestone in the progress of our
cooperative relations with the electric light and power
utilities. At the invitation of the Association, about
fifty representatives from the American Telephone and
Telegraph Company and nearby Associated Bell Com-
panies attended the convention and the cordial spirit in
which they were received by the electric light and power
representatives shows how effective have been the efforts
to "get-together with the other fellow" and argues well
for the future of our joint work.

An outstanding feature of the convention was the
presentation of the second progress report of the Joint
General Committee of the National Electric Light
Association and Bell Telephone System on the Physical
Relations between Electric Light and Signal Systems.
This second report presents detailed principles for the
inductive coordination of supply and signal systems and
prepares the way for the early formulation of a code of
practices. Copies of the report have been sent to all the
Associated Companies.

The Joint General Committee earnestly recommends
the adoption and consistent application of these prin-
ciples by the respective utilities, and expresses their
belief that the principles should prove of great benefit
in meeting the mutual problems of the utilities and that
they point the way to the practical solution of inductive
interference situations. Gratification is also expressed by
the Committee as to the constantly increasing spirit of
cooperation evidenced by the satisfactory way in which
the mutual problems of the two utilities are being dealt
with.

This second report of the Joint General Committee
was presented at the Atlantic City convention by Mr.

[49]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Pack for the National Electric Light Association and Mr.
Gherardi for the Bell System. The keynote of Mr.
Pack's statement was that by establishing close contact
between representatives of the two utilities so that they
would have full confidence in each other, the way was
paved for the proper coordination of facilities in accord-
ance with the principles set up in the report. He also
called attention to the great progress in solving the
problems between the two utilities in the past year and
said that he hoped the spirit embodied in the reports
would be continued in the application of the principles
in the field. Mr. Gherardi also emphasized the satis-
factory progress which has been made in the mutual
understanding of the problems between the two utilities
and stated that it was being brought about by better
contact and increasing confidence. If he could make but
one contribution to the solution of the problem, Mr.
Gherardi said it would be to have the emplo\Tees of one
utility know, personalty, the corresponding employees of
the other utility with whom they deal, for through such
contact a sympathetic understanding of our mutual
problems will be promoted. The discussion of the report
showed that through friendly personal relations and
frank discussions the way had been opened to the proper
engineering solution of the problems between the two
utilities.

Among others who spoke in connection with the
presentation of this report were engineers from several
state public service commissions, and they expressed
their appreciation of the successful efforts being made by
the utilities to solve their mutual problems through the
formulation of constructive guides to practice.

As a result of the meetings and discussions between
the representatives of the National Electric Light Associa-
tion and those of the Bell Telephone System at the
Atlantic City Convention, it is believed that the mutual
friendship and understanding between the two utilities
have been greatly strengthened.

H. P. Charlesworth.

[50]

Technical Papers Published During the
Quarter Just Ended

Analysis of the Energy Distribution in Speech,1 by Dr.
I. B. Crandall and Dr. D. MacKenzie, gives the results of
over 13,000 observations on both continuous speech and
separate syllables and yields, among others, the result
that about 60 per cent, of the energy of speech is concen-
trated in frequencies below 500 cycles per second. This
is at variance with the work of earlier investigators.

The Nature of Speech and its Interpretation,2 by Dr.
Harvey Fletcher, making use of the results of the pre-
ceding paper in addition to a very extended series of
observations which Dr. Fletcher has collected, arrives at
the important conclusion that in a telephone circuit in
which all frequencies below 500 cycles per second are
suppressed and in which therefore 60 per cent, of the
energy in speech is suppressed (see preceding paper) the
"articulation" or intelligibility of the speech is reduced
only 2 per cent, below that of a perfect telephone circuit.
If all frequencies below a thousand cycles are suppressed,
only 16 per cent, of total speech energy remains to be
transmitted by the telephone circuit while the loss in
articulation is only 14 per cent. It is pointed out by the
author that these striking results may be of use to medical
specialists in alleviating the handicaps of deaf and dumb
persons a^ well as being of value to the telephone engineer
and in turn to the telephone using public.

The Physical Examination of Hearing and Binaural
Aids for the Deaf,3 by R. L. Wegel, discusses many of the
recent results of speech analysis arrived at in the Bell
System laboratories with special reference to patho-
logical conditions of the ear.

»See Physical Review— Vol. 19, p. 221-232, 1922.

2See Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 193, p. 729-747, 1922.

Presented before the National Academy of Sciences — Washington, D. C. —
April 25, 1922. To appear shortly in the Proceedings.

[51]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

The Relative Sensitivity of the Ear at Different Levels of
Loudness,* by Dr. D. MacKenzie describes an alternation
phonometer which makes it an easy matter to adjust
to equal loudness two tones of different pitches. He
finds that the sound energy necessary to produce a given
loudness is smaller the higher the pitch within the fre-
quency range from bass G to C 5.

Loud-Speaker Developments: At the meeting of the
National Academy of Sciences in Washington on April
25th, Dr. F. B. Jewett, Vice President of the Western
Electric Company, read a paper5 discussing the technical
aspects of the loud-speaker. Dr. Jewett reviewed the
history of loud-speaker development pointing out that
all attempts, prior to the coming of the distortionless
amplifier, were doomed to failure. It was only when such
an amplifier became available that the engineer, in de-
signing a loud-speaker, could choose his transmitter on
the basis of distortionless reproduction rather than on the
basis of efficiency of conversion of sound waves into
telephone current. The amplifier has made the use of the
distortionless transmitter possible.

However, the problem of the loud-speaker does not lie
entirely in the amplifier. After the telephone current
has been generated by the transmitter and its energy has
been amplified possibly a thousand million-fold by the
amplifier, it is then necessary to reconvert it back into
sound waves. To accomplish this, a special receiver and
the proper type of horn to attach to the receiver are
necessary. The receiver and horns which the Bell
engineers have perfected represent a joint development
since a horn when attached to a receiver brings about a
marked change in the operating characteristics of the
latter.

Composite Telegraphy and Telephony* by Mr. J. H.
Bell of the Engineering Department of the Western

'Read before the National Academy of Sciences — Washington, D. C, April
25, 1922. To appear shortly in the Proceedings.

6To appear shortly in the Proceedings.

"Post Office Engineers' Journal, Vol. 15, p. 1-12, 1922.

[52]

Technical Papers

Electric Company, describes the American practice as
being of interest to readers of the British Post Office
Engineers' Journal.

Planning a Big Business Ahead: In this article,
appearing in "The Nation's Business," for April, 1922,
Mr. S. L. Andrew, Chief Statistician of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company, discusses briefly
some aspects of the statistical work of that Company
in so far as it concerns future planning for the Bell
Telephone System. The article points out the need for
careful statistical measurement of the influences of both
internal and, especially, external forces upon the move-
ments of the business. It emphasizes the value of scien-
tifically determined estimates over estimates reached
by "hunch" methods. Mention is made of the graphic
records of the movements of the principal elements of
its business which are prepared by the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company for purposes of executive
information and control. The opinion is expressed that
effective statistical work is profitable from every point
of view, not only in the telephone business but in every
business. Any business that wants to know what is
ahead must first have at its disposal all practical knowl-
edge of what is behind.

[53]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Notes on Recent Occurrences

THE SHIP-TO-SHORE RADIO DEMONSTRATION
AT HARRISBURG

THE first public demonstration of the combined use
of ship-to-shore radio telephony, the regular tele-
phone system and the telephone loud-speaker was held
at Harrisburg, Pa., on the evening of April 6, in connec-
tion with an address by John J. Carty, Vice President of
the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, in
charge of development and research, before the members
of the Harrisburg Radio Association and their guests.

Earlier in the day General Carty and Leonard H.
Kennard, President of the Bell Telephone Company of
Pennsylvania, had been guests of honor at a luncheon
given by the association. The evening meeting was held
in the ballroom of the Penn-Harris Hotel, which was
crowded to capacity by the 500 or more members of the
association and their guests. A special installation of the
telephone loud-speaker had been made under the direction
of engineers of the Long Lines Department, and this was
used by General Carty in delivering his address, as well
as in connection with the demonstrations which followed
it.

General Carty 's subject was "Achievements in Teleph-
ony.' ' He outlined graphically the development of the
telephone art from the date of the invention of the instru-
ment by Dr. Bell to the present time and briefly discussed
its probable future, particularly with regard to the use of
radio telephony. He was roundly applauded when he
declared, "The progress which we have made, and some
of which I will endeavor to sketch briefly for you to-
night, justifies me in the belief that in due course American
scientists will show the way to construct a telephone
system connecting the entire world, so that the tens of
millions of telephone users in the United States can
readily talk, not only as they now are doing among

[54]

Notes on Recent Occurrences

themselves, but also with anyone who has a tele-
phone, wherever he may be located on the face of the
earth."

On the wall of the ballroom was hung a map of the
United States and Cuba, showing the Transcontinental
Line and the Key West-Havana cable. Repeater stations
were indicated by lights, which were illuminated as
General Carty " called the roll of the continent," a light
flashing as each repeater man came into the circuit and
answered as the name of his station was called. General
Carty talked for some time with H. G. Bates, com-
mercial representative of the Pacific Telephone and Tele-
graph Company, in San Francisco, the entire conversation
being heard by the audience. A musical program fol-
lowed, an attractive feature of which was a violin solo by
Mr. Bates' fourteen-year-old daughter.

The circuit to Havana was built up and the audience
heard General Carty's conversation with F. T. Caldwell,
chief engineer of the Cuban Telephone Company, as
well as phonograph selections played at Havana.

Demonstrations of receiving wireless telephone mes-
sages sent from the Deal Beach, N. J., radio station were
given and General Carty introduced a touch of the dra-
matic when he announced that an attempt would be made
to talk with a ship at sea. This feature of the program
had not been advertised and caused something of a sen-
sation among the guests.

The Shipping Board liner America, then en route for
New York, was about 400 miles off the coast. Communi-
cation with the ship was established without difficulty,
wires being used from Harrisburg to Deal Beach and
radio communication being effected by means of two radio
stations, Deal Beach for sending from shore to ship and
Elberon for receiving from ship to shore. General Carty
talked with the America's radio operator, the conversa-
tion being distinctly heard by the Harrisburg audience.
The operator declared that he clearly heard the applause
which followed his exchange of greetings with General
Carty.

[55]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Following the demonstration a motion picture film
illustrating the principle of the audion or vacuum tube,
an essential factor in both radio telephony and wire
telephony where repeaters are used, was shown, as was
a short film showing the "trick assembly" of a telephone
desk set. Many of the members of the association and
guests took advantage of an invitation to inspect the
control room, in which was installed the vacuum tube
amplifying apparatus used in connection with the loud-
speaker.

Among the guests at the luncheon and the evening
meeting were many of the executives of the Bell Tele-
phone Company of Pennsylvania, and state and city
officials, including John S. Rilling, of the Pennsylvania
Public Service Commission, who is president of the
Harrisburg Radio Association and who presided at the
luncheon and introduced General Carty in the evening.

ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE NATIONAL
ELECTRIC LIGHT ASSOCIATION

Atlantic City, N. J., May 16-19, 1922

THE Convention was held on the Million-Dollar Pier,
and in order to aid the meetings held in the large
auditorium a loud-speaker was installed and used to
amplify the voices of local speakers on several occasions.
On the night of the 18th, it was connected to the trans-
continental circuit terminating in San Francisco, and Mr.
J. C. Nowell, Vice President and General Manager of the
Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, Mr. John
A. Britton, Vice President of the Pacific Gas and Electric
Company, and Mr. R. H. Ballard, Vice President of the
South California Edison Company, addressed the Con-
vention from San Francisco. Before the speeches were
delivered from San Francisco, Mr. Gherardi called the
roll from Atlantic City to the Pacific coast and the
meeting was closed with a "Good Night" roll call.

[56]

Notes on Recent Occurrences

Secretary Hoover was unable to attend the meeting in
person, so on Friday morning the loud-speaker was con-
nected to a Washington circuit and he delivered a short
address from the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone
Company's office in Washington. On each occasion the
loud-speaker was used with entire success.

THE GRANT CENTENNIAL

Point Pleasant, Cincinnati, Ohio, April 27, 1922

THE Centennial was celebrated at Point Pleasant,
General Grant's birthplace, with President Harding
as the principal speaker. In order to carry the words of
the President to the entire crowd which it was expected
would gather at Point Pleasant, the Bell loud-speaker
was installed. By adopting, on a small scale, the ar-
rangements which were used at the Armistice Day
Ceremony, the words of President Harding were trans-
mitted by a telephone circuit to Cincinnati also, where
they were amplified and projected by the loud-speaker.
It is estimated that 15,000 people heard President
Harding in Point Pleasant and 25,000 in Cincinnati.

ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE NATIONAL
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Washington, D. C, May 16-18, 1922

THE Annual Convention was held in Convention
Hall in the City of Washington and as a result of
the successful use of the loud-speaker at the National
Chamber of Commerce Convention in Atlantic City last
year, the request of the Chamber to make it available
again this year was granted. Convention Hall seats
about 4,000 people and the loud-speaker proved of great
service in assisting those who addressed the convention,
among whom were President Harding and Secretary
Hoover, to reach their audience.

[57]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

DEDICATION OF THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL

Washington, D. C, May SO, 1922

THE installation of the Bell loud-speaker used in
connection with the Dedication of the new Lincoln
Memorial may be looked upon as ranking in importance
with the installations for President Harding's Inaugural
address and for Armistice Day. Although the audience
did not reach the records set by the two earlier events,
the number of persons present was so great that no
speaker unaided could have been heard by more than a
small fraction of them. The loud-speaker again demon-
strated its capabilities by satisfactorily projecting all of a
widely varied program including the selections rendered
by the Marine Band.

The use of the loud-speaker on this occasion proved
interesting from another point of view as it demon-
strated how quickly the residents of a city will come to
place implicit confidence in it. Had the dedication
occurred in any other city than Washington, it is quite
likely that the assembling crowds would have arranged
themselves very differently than occurred in Washington.
There the early arrivals, realizing that they could hear
perfectly for at least a quarter of a mile from the
Memorial, chose comfortable and shady seats under the
more or less distant groves of trees, and it was only after
these more desirable locations were all occupied that the
audience began to collect in any considerable numbers
about the base of the Memorial.

LOUD-SPEAKER DEMONSTRATIONS BY THE
BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY OF PA.

Pittsburgh, Pa., April 28-29, 1922

THREE demonstrations were given, the first to
specially invited guests from the city of Pittsburgh,
the second on Saturday afternoon to the pupils of the
technical and high schools of Pittsburgh, and the third

[58]

Notes on Recent Occurrences

on Saturday evening to telephone employees. The
roll of cities was called from Pittsburgh to San Fran-
cisco and also from Pittsburgh to Havana. Following
this, the Havana and San Francisco circuits were con-
nected together at Pittsburgh, music being received from
each end and the two terminals talking together with
Pittsburgh listening in. A demonstration of radio
broadcasting was also given, the program being sent out
from the Bell System radio station at Deal Beach, New
Jersey. It was received at Pittsburgh and amplified by
the loud-speaker.

On Saturday afternoon and evening, in addition to
the use of the San Francisco-Havana circuit, a wire radio
demonstration was included in the program, the circuit
being operated as follows: by wire from Havana to Deal
Beach, by radio from Deal Beach to New York and thence
by wire from New York to Pittsburgh. This circuit
demonstrated the use of a radio link such as is already
in operation between Los Angeles and Catalina. On
Saturday afternoon and evening, Gen. John J. Carty
addressed the audience from New York, telling briefly
of the development and future of the telephone.

THE LOUD-SPEAKER AT FIRST AID
CONTESTS

THE Bell Loud-Speaker or telephone amplifier was
used on several occasions in connection with First
Aid contests held by Associated Companies of the Bell
System, notably that of the Pittsburgh Division of the
Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania at Pittsburgh
on April 26, and that of the New Jersey Division of the
New York Telephone Company at Newark on May 15.
Each of these contests attracted several thousand
telephone employees and guests, and the amplifying
apparatus was of great assistance to the chief judges and
other officials in making announcements, in stating the
First Aid problems to be performed by the contesting

[59]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

teams, and in announcing the results of the contests and
awarding prizes.

In both cases brief addresses were made by company
officials, whose voices were carried to the farthest corners
of the large exposition building and the armory in which
the contests were respectively held. An additional
feature of the Newark program was the presentation of
Theodore N. Vail medals (bronze) to six New Jersey
Division employees by President H. F. Thurber of the
New York Telephone Company.

NEW RADIO LAW AND RADIO REGULATIONS

THE Committee appointed by the Secretary of Com-
merce has made its final report, which is known as
"The Report of the Department of Commerce Confer-
ence on Radio Telephony." With this report as a basis,
Senator Frank B. Kellogg of Minnesota and Repre-
sentative Wallace B. White, Jr., of Maine, have drafted
a bill which has been presented to Congress. This bill
provides only for such points as it is necessary to cover
as a matter of law and largely leaves to the Department
of Commerce the regulation of radio matters in detail.
This seems to be very wise, as it would be unfortunate
to hamper the development of a new and unformed art
with fixed laws which it would be difficult to modify
as the necessity arose. Accordingly, if the new bill
passes Congress and becomes a law, it may reasonably
be expected that the final report of the Department of
Commerce Conference Committee will form a substan-
tial part of the basis of such regulations as the Secretary
of Commerce may issue.

EXPERIMENTAL BROADCASTING STATION

New York City

OUR new broadcasting station at No. 24 Walker
Street, New York City, is completed and ready for
service. The Department of Commerce has refused us a

[60]

Notes on Recent Occurrences

special wave length of 400 meters and we have been
assigned the common wave length of 360 meters. This
means that we must operate in common with fourteen
other broadcasting stations in this zone. The stations
which are now operating are using all of the available
time and we are now negotiating in an endeavor to obtain
suitable hours during which we may begin operations.
In order to start in an experimental way and more in the
nature of a demonstration of what we can do, we have
requested that we be assigned the hours of 11:00 to
12:00 A.M.; 4:30 to 5:30 P.M. each week day, and
Thursday evening from 7:30 P.M. to midnight. It is
expected that we will receive this assignment in the very
near future, and we will then start negotiations with our
prospective users of the facilities. Already, without any
soliciting or canvassing, approximately one hundred
persons have made application.

SUBSCRIBER OWNERSHIP IN WISCONSIN

HOW well the sale of the preferred stock of the Wis-
consin Telephone Company carried out the pur-
poses aimed at, namely the distribution of this stock
among the users of the service, is illustrated by the
following table showing the subscriptions to the stock
from various groups of people:

Total Total

Vocations Subs. Shares Vocations Subs. Shares

Abstractors 8 61 Book Binders 2 2

Architects 10 29 Bookkeepers and

Artists 11 37 Accts 399 1,477

Bakers 37 239 Brass Workers 1 10

Bankers 73 2,629 Brokers 14 67

Barbers 40 109 Butchers 86 354

Beauty Parlors 17 30 Candy Makers 4 12

Blacksmiths 13 48 Caretakers 6 16

Boarding House Carpenters 52 137

Prop 6 18 Carpet Weavers .. . 1 5

Boat Builders 4 25 Casket Trimmers. . 2 15

Boiler Makers 7 23 Chauffeurs 29 62

[61]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Vocations
Cheese Makers ....
Chefs and Cooks . .

Chemists

C. S. Pactitioners. .

Chiropractors

Cigar Makers ....
City and County

Employees

Clergymen

Clerks

Commission

Merchants

Conductors

Contractors

Coopers

Dentists

Doctors

Draftsmen

Dray and

Expressmen

Dressmakers

Druggists

Dry Cleaners

Electricians

Engineers

Estates

Farmers

Firemen

Fishermen

Foremen

Garage Employees

Geologists

Government

Employees

Grocers

Harness Makers . . .
Hotel Employees. .
Hotel and

Restaurant Prop

House Maids

Housewives

Inspectors

Janitors

Total Total
Subs. Shares Vocations Subs. Shares

2 5 Laborers 271 661

24 48 Laundry

10 35 Employees 10 26

6 13 Lawyers 90 813

6 28 Leather Workers . . 11 47
20 30 Librarians 8 13

Locksmiths 1 1

106 541 Managers 386 3,108

53 285 Manufacturers.... 159 3,016

1 045 2 593 Marble Workers ... 5 40

Masons 9 35

2 110 Mechanics 191 548

g ^q Merchants 464 3,025

64 504 Metalworkers 4 12

o Messengers 2 2

74 412 Millers 5 16

183 1 363 Milliners 23 80

33 103 Miscellaneous 869 3,281

Motormen 7 54

Moulders 5 25

^ J~ Musicians 8 81

lor HI Newspapermen.... 66 207

12b 487 Nurses 85 198

«n o in Optometrists 1 15

?X „" Painters 33 103

19 is? Paper Makers 36 70

iin la- Pattern Makers. .. 8 55

Ti Photographers 16 50

Picture Framers .. . 1 10

to 417 Plasterers 3 9

H III Plumbers 30 129

bZ ZZ" Pool Room Prop . . 9 22

2 20 Printers 68 255

Railroad

89 361 Employees 173 568

136 588 Real Estate & Ins. 54 505

2 6 Retired 271 2,365

7 9 Sailors 6 30

Salesmen 464 2,244

47 178 Secretaries 31 111

40 156 Shipping Clerks. .. 4 9

2,148 10,410 Shoemakers 38 98

13 82 Shoe Shiners 3 3

37 158 Steam Fitters 11 35

[62]

Notes on Recent Occurrences

Total Total
Vocations Subs. Shares Vocations Subs. Shares

Stenographers 435 965 Textile Workers. . . 25 50

Students 143 382 Theatre Prop 8 20

Superintendents... 79 694 Tinsmiths 10 29

Surveyors 1 2 Toy Makers 1 1

Tailors 55 222 Undertakers 16 61

Teachers 400 1,550 Upholsterers 2 7

Teamsters 26 62 Wagon Makers. ... 2 2

Telegraph Waiters 17 35

Employees 10 39 Watchmen 9 39

Telephone

Welfare Workers . . 8 21

Operators 289 426 Window Washers . . 1 1

Other Tel.

Wire Weavers 1 4

Employees 171 612 Total 11,283 53,473

THE BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL

IT has recently been decided to undertake the publica-
tion of a scientific and engineering magazine devoted
to the technical aspects of electrical communications. It
is to be known as "The Bell System Technical Journal."

In order that the various engineering branches of the
Bell System be directly represented, an Editorial Board
has been appointed consisting of Messrs. J. J. Carty,
Bancroft Gherardi, F. B. Jewett and E. B. Craft with
whom will be associated L. F. Morehouse, O. B. Black-
well, H. B. Charlesworth and E. H. Colpitts. The
Information Department of the American Telephone and
Telegraph Company has been designated to publish the
Journal and R. W. King will act as Editor.

The number of fields of science and engineering which
are contributory to electrical communications has in-
creased materially in the past few years and a further
change in the same direction is to be expected in the
future. The need, therefore, is apparent for a technical
journal which will serve to collect, in the most available
form, articles in the many diverse fields of engineering and
science which in one way or another bear upon electrical
communications .

[63]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

For the time being the contents of the Technical
Journal will probably consist entirely of contributions
from the technical staff of the Bell System, but it is not
intended that this preclude the acceptance of articles by
engineers and others who are unaffiliated with the System.
The range of subjects treated in the Journal will be as
broad as the art of electrical communications itself, in-
cluding not only the technical researches which underlie
new developments in apparatus, but also such subjects
as traffic and commercial engineering and the economic
studies which precede important new installations.

For the present the Journal will be issued quarterly
but with the thought that in the not distant future the
volume of articles available may be such as to justify a
bi-monthly or monthly appearance.

The Journal will be distributed gratis to interested
employees of the Bell System.

THEO. N. VAIL HONORED BY OLD TIME
TELEGRAPHERS

IT has been announced that the postal card vote by the
membership of the Old Time Telegraphers as to the
five men who did the most for commercial development of
the telegraph and the welfare of telegraph employees,
resulted as follows: Vail, 392; Eckert, 211; Mackay, 200;
Clowry, 194, and Carnegie, 181. Consequently, Mr.
Vail's picture was selected for a medallion to be distributed
during the Association's annual convention in September.

[64]

WwbA

Single Copy, 50c

A,

$1.50 per Year

Bell
Telephone Quarterly

OCTOBER, 1922

Contents

Ideals of thb Telephone Service . . . John J. Carty

Notes on Radio O.B. Blackwell

Service in the Making K.W. Waterson

Poles F.L.Rhodes

World's Telephone Statistics . . . . S. L. Andrew

Abstracts of Recent Technical Papers
from Bell System Sources

Notes on Recent Occurrences

fSTBA

%

American Telephone and Telegraph Company

New York

Bell Telephone Quarterly

A MEDIUM OF SUGGESTION
AND A RECORD OF PROGRESS

Published quarterly for the Bell System by the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company

Subscription, $1.50 per year, in United States and Canada; single copies, 50 cents

Address all communications to

INFORMATION DEPARTMENT

AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY

195 Broadway, New York

Vol. I OCTOBER, 1922 No. 3

Ideals of the Telephone Service

A Tribute to the
Memory of Alexander Graham Bell

Presidential Address Delivered at the Ninth Annual Meeting
of the Telephone Pioneers of America

THIS is the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Tele-
phone Pioneers of America, although our asso-
ciation is now entering upon its twelfth year.
On account of the war, during three years no annual
meetings were held. The Pioneers were then engaged
in the great struggle to save civilization.

The membership of our association is made up not
only from those who took part in the first development
of the telephone, but also from those who have been
in the telephone service for a period of twenty-one
years. We have in the service tens of thousands of
zealous men and women doing Pioneer work now, but
because they lack in years, though not in achievement,
they have not been enrolled. We and they are looking
forward to the day of their formal admission. To these
our fellow-workers we extend our greetings and our
appreciations. In their hands, lies not only the future
of our society, but the future of our art.

Our first meeting took place eleven years ago, at
Boston, the birthplace of the telephone. At that meeting,

[1]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell,
was present and delivered to us an address which must
always be memorable in the history of our Society.
Today, we recall with peculiar sadness these words
which he then spoke to us:

"This is a great day for me, the first meeting of the
Telephone Pioneers of America and of the world. It
gives me great pleasure to meet with you all today, and
3ret there is a feeling of sadness about it. I am the first
telephone pioneer and my memory goes back to the very
beginning, and I miss the faces I remember so well, the
faces of the old pioneers whom I wish were here today.

"I feel it a little presumptuous on my part to try to
speak of the telephone to telephone men. You have all
gone so far beyond me. Why, the little telephone system
that I look back upon, what is it compared to the mighty
system that goes through the whole extent of our country
today? It is to you that this great telephone development
is due, and I feel that it behooves me to speak very mod-
estly of the little beginning that led to this great end.
I cannot tell you anything about the telephone. I cannot
speak to you about undulating current, intermittent cur-
rent, and pulsatory current. I belong to the past; you
belong to the present.' '

Here stand revealed those lovable qualities of the
great pioneer — generosity and modesty — which endeared
him to us all. It is true, indeed, that he belonged to
the past, though then he still belonged to the present.
Now he belongs to the ages.

Alexander Grahanf Bell died on Wednesday, August
2, at the age of seventy-five, at his summer home in
Nova Scotia, near Baddeck. He was buried on August
4, at sunset, on the summit of a mountain overlooking
the Bras d'Or Lakes. As a tribute to his memory,
telephone service was suspended for one minute through-
out the United States and Canada during the simple
ceremony.

[2]

Ideals of the Telephone Service

The manifold activities of his life, devoted to the
service of mankind, would require volumes to portray.
The medals and other honors which he received from
learned societies, his honorary degrees from Universities
at home and abroad, and special recognition by Govern-
ments, all testify to the esteem in which he was held.
His scientific researches in the field of heredity and
eugenics, his experiments in aeronautics, his work in
improving the phonograph, and in teaching the dumb
to talk, and his invention of the photophone, reveal
the scope of his mind. This record alone is enough to
insure his fame, but his discovery of the method of
transmitting articulate speech by electricity, and his
invention of the apparatus to do this marvel, have
placed his name among the immortals.

Dr. Bell was born March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh,
Scotland. He went to Canada in 1870, and the next
year, at the age of twenty-four, he removed to Boston.
After introducing into New England schools improved
methods of teaching deaf mutes to speak, he was
appointed Professor of Vocal Physiology in Boston
University.

In his spare time, he conducted experimental
researches in electrical wave transmission. He was
assisted financially in these experiments by two gentle-
men of Boston, Thomas Sanders and Gardiner Greene
Hubbard. By the summer of 1874, he had worked
out his theory that the transmission of speech by elec-
tricity could be accomplished by producing "electrical
undulations similar in form to the vibrations of the air"
which accompany the original words or sounds. In
spite of great difficulties and discouragements, he suc-
ceeded in reducing his theory to practical form, when,
at Boston, in the summer of 1875, he invented a tele-
phone which faintly transmitted parts of words and
even entire words.

Mr. Thomas A. Watson, Bell's assistant, relates
that it was on March 10, 1876, over a line extending
between two rooms in a building at No. 5 Exeter Place,

[3]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Boston, that the first complete sentence was ever spoken
and heard through the electrical telephone. It was
spoken by Bell and heard by Watson, who recorded it
in his note book at the time. It consisted of these words :
"Mr. Watson, come here; I want you." Thus the
telephone was born.

After completing his fundamental invention, Bell
in a remarkable document predicted with amazing
foresight the telephone system of the future. He also
invented the photophone which was the first method
of transmitting speech by electricity without wires,
and the induction balance and the telephone probe
for which he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor
of Medicine by the University of Heidelberg. To his
successors in the laboratories in which he was the original
worker, he left the further conduct of telephone research
and development.

Turning to other departments of science, he dis-
played his remarkable intellectual gifts by the fruitful
researches which he conducted. In his work on behalf
of the deaf, which he continued to the end, is revealed a
dominant motive in his life.

To Bell was accorded a privilege so often denied to
those who have advanced the world by their discoveries —
he lived to see the triumph of his great idea. When
the first sentence was transmitted, the public regarded
the telephone as a scientific toy. Then, the telephone
plant of the entire world could be carried in the arms of a
child. Today, vast telephone systems of intercom-
munication have been developed, extending the spoken
word among the peoples of the nations.

The advances of the telephone art made by the
successors of Bell were always a source of great satis-
faction to him. Some of these, epoch-making in their
nature, gave him special gratification.

On January 25, 1915, the transcontinental line,
spanning Bell's adopted country from ocean to ocean,
was in the presence of dignitaries of state and nation,
dedicated to the public service. This was a day of

[4]

Ideals of the Telephone Service

triumph for Bell, for, using a reproduction of the original
instrument, he once again spoke the memorable words,
"Mr. Watson, come here; I want you." But this time
Bell was at New York, and Watson who heard him with
perfect ease, was three thousand miles away in San
Francisco.

Another advance attained the greatest distance over
which the transmission of speech had ever been achieved.
Early in the morning of September 30, 1915, words
were spoken through a radio telephone at Arlington,
Virginia, to the Hawaiian Islands where they were
plainly heard. But, as if to proclaim the telephonic
conquest of time as well as space, the words reached
these distant islands of the Pacnic when it was there
still the evening of September 29.

There yet remained to be realized that prophetic
dream of the telephone pioneers — the bridging of the
Atlantic by the human voice. But the day of its ful-
fillment was not far off for on October 21, 1915, during
the dark days of the war, speech was for the first time
in history successfully transmitted across the Atlantic
Ocean. This was accomplished by the radio telephone,
which carried the words spoken at Arlington, to the
Eiffel Tower at Paris.

The last memorable telephone development destined
to occur in the life of Bell will always be associated with a
great historic occasion. At the burial of the Unknown
Soldier &i Arlington, on November 11, 1921, the voice of
President Harding, by means of the new loud speaking
amplifiers, was easily heard by the great concourse of a
hundred thousand people about him, even by those in the
most distant parts of the vast cemetery. Corresponding
multitudes numbered by tens of thousands, at New York
and San Francisco, heard over the wires every word
spoken by their Chief Magistrate, as clearly as though
in his actual presence. These distant multitudes heard
also the invocation of the Chaplain, the music and the
hymns, and the words of the commitment service used
by the Bishop at the grave. They joined with each

[5]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

other and with those at the cemetery in the singing of the
hymns, and they united with the President in reciting
The Lord's Prayer with which he closed his address.
They heard in amazement the salvos of artillery fired at the
grave, and even those on the shores of the Pacific caught
the loud reverberations thrown back by the Virginia hills.
At the end, in profound silence and with heads bowed in
sorrow, they listened to the plaintive notes of the trumpet
sounding the soldiers' last farewell.

On that day, the achievements of science imparted a
mystical power to the most solemn national ceremony in
the history of America. This ceremony, its deep sig-
nificance so enriched by the art of Bell, we can now believe
contained an exalted sanction of the greatest of all the
achievements of his life.

These are but some of the advances which have been
made in the first half century of the telephone art, which
is now drawing to a close. They belong to the golden
age of communications which has achieved the extension
of the spoken word throughout both space and time.

But this golden age has not yet ended, and when we
contemplate the possibilities of the future we discover
that it has only just begun. It is to the future that
we must now turn our minds and direct our endeavors.
It is true that we Pioneers belong to the past, but it is
equally true that we belong to the present. As indi-
viduals, we must all pass away, as did the First Pioneer;
but our Association, the Telephone Pioneers of America,
will continue to live. The greatest work which our
society can do, is to exemplify the ideals of our service,
and to transmit to its future members the splendid
traditions of our art. It should be our purpose to
encourage and to sustain among the men and women
of the telephone system their ever-increasing zeal for
the public service.

While it is beyond my power to put into words
these ideals of our service, they already exist within
your hearts and mine, where we all can feel, though I
cannot express, their potency. These feelings which

[6]

Ideals of the Telephone Service

form the mainspring of our actions, do not arise from
mere wishful thinking, nor do they spring from an
idealism which is disconnected from reality. They
rest upon a solid basis of achievement, and represent
the practical purpose of that great telephone system of
intercommunication which bears the name of our First
Pioneer.

It is interesting to note that the biologists were
the first to appreciate the peculiar importance of elec-
trical communications in the social organism, and to
Herbert Spencer, writing more than fifty years ago,
we are indebted for some analogies which have not yet
been sufficiently studied either by the biologist or the
engineer. In tracing the analog y between the telegraph
system of his day and the nervous system of the animal
organism. Spencer expressed the view that probably
when the then rudimentary telegraph systems were
more fully developed, other analogies would be traceable.
This development has already been provided by the
telephone art, and national telephone networks have
now become a vital part of the social organism. I believe
that the study of these networks from the standpoint
of biology is destined to yield important results, and
indeed, that an investigation of the remarkable develop-
ments of the automatic machinery used in modern
telephone switchboards might even throw light on the
mechanism of the mind itself.

Scientists have long been studying the theory that
man has advanced to his present high estate by upward
progress in the biological scale from a microscopic speck
of protoplasm forming the biological cell or unit of fife.
They have pictured him as composed of countless millions
of these living creatures forming an organic entity mar-
velously designed, each cell performing its allotted part
in that exquisite division of labor which characterizes
this biological State.

We commonly compare a nation to a complex living
organism. " We speak of the body politic, of the functions
of its several parts, of its growth, and of its diseases, as

[7]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

though it were a creature. But we usually employ these
expressions as metaphors, little suspecting," as Spencer
says, "how close is the analogy, and how far it will bear
carrying out. So completely, however, is a society
organized upon the same system as an individual being,
that we may almost say that there is something more
than analogy between them."

Each cell has its allotted and specialized work to do.
Each cell must be fed, and live, and grow. Sustenance
must be obtained, prepared, and assimilated, and the
waste removed. The physiological mechanisms for
doing these things and many other things besides, have
their striking counterparts in the structure of organized
society, and furnish instructive material for the philo-
sophic student. But to us of the telephone art, the most
marvelous thing of all is the nervous system, that incon-
ceivably complex communication network, by which
the activities of both individual and society are regulated
and without which paralysis and death would result.

We are told that the cells which compose the nervous
system are the latest to appear in the upward march of
the organism, and that the degree of their complexity
and the extent of their differentiation furnish a criterion
for determining the stage of progress which has been
attained. Because of the high function, almost spiritual
in its nature, performed by these nerve cells, they have
been called the noble cells. I have long felt and often
expressed the feeling that because of this the workers
in the telephone art are engaged in a high calling, building
up the noble cells which constitute the nervous system
of the Nation.

As in the animal body, these cells were the latest to
appear, so in the structure of organized society the highest
form of electrical communication, the telephone, is the
latest to appear — it comes only at the stage of higher
development. And again as in the animal body, the
stage of development of the nervous system is an index
of its place in the evolutionary series, so I believe it
will be found in any social organism that the degree of

[8]

Ideals of the Telephone Service

development reached by its telephone system will be
an important indication of the progress which it has made
in attaining coordination and solidarity.

The use of the spoken word to convey ideas, dis-
tinguishes man from all other created things. The
extension of the spoken word by means of electrical
systems of intercommunication serves to connect the
nervous system of each unit of society with all of the
others, thus providing an indispensable element in the
structure of that inconceivably great and powerful
organism which many biologists feel is to be the ultimate
outcome of the stupendous evolution which society is
undergoing.

That such an organism, thus so magnificently con-
ceived, would be the outcome of the higher evolution
of man, I have long believed; but its form and the
nature of its functioning, I could not imagine. But the
great work of Trotter, who has studied the gregarious
instinct in the lower animals and in man, permits us
to contemplate this evolutionary entity from a new
point of view. He has pointed out that nature, having
failed in her giant organisms, in which so many individual
cells were crowded into such animals as her giant lizards
and the mammoth and the mastodon, was to try a new
method which was to dispense with gross physical
aggregations of cells combined into one body. He points
out that the flock, the herd, the pack, the swarm — new
organizations — were to be devised by nature, and to
flourish and range throughout the world, and that
in one of these new organizations, human society, the
individual man is still to be regarded as the unit, but
not constrained as is the cell in the animal body, but
free to move about, the mind alone being incorporated
into the new unit by the marvelous power of inter-
communication. He shows that the power of these
organisms depends on the capacity for intercommunica-
tion among their members, and that this power expands
until the limits of this intercommunication are reached.

How fundamental, electrical communication systems

[9]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

are, in the tremendous evolution of the human race
which is now being manifested in the organization of
society, and how vital to the welfare of mankind is
the daily work of telephone men and women everywhere,
is being made more and more apparent by the discoveries
of the new school of biologists.

Speaking always of communication in its broadest
meaning, but emphasizing the importance of speech,
Trotter says: "The capacity for free intercommunica-
tion between individuals of the species has meant so
much in the evolution of man, and will certainly come in
the future to mean so incalculably more, that it cannot
be regarded as anything less than a master element in
the shaping of his destiny."

And again, in speaking of human society as a gregar-
ious unit, he says: "The ultimate and singular source of
inexhaustible moral power in a gregarious unit is the
perfection of communion amongst its individual
members."

As long as intercommunication was limited, he tells
us, the full possibilities of nature's new experiment were
concealed. But at length appeared man, a creature
endowed with speech, in whom this capacity for inter-
communication could develop indefinitely. "At once
a power of a new magnitude was manifest. Puny as
were his individuals, man's capacity for communication

soon made him master of the world In his very

flesh and bones is the impulse towards closer and closer
union in larger and larger fellowships. To-day he is
fighting his way towards that goal, fighting for the
perfect unit which nature has so long foreshadowed,
in which there shall be a complete communion of its
members, unobstructed by egoism or hatred, by harsh-
ness or arrogance or the wolfish lust for blood. That
perfect unit will be a new creature, recognizable as a
single entity; to its million-minded power and knowledge
no barrier will be insurmountable, no gulf impassable,
no task too great." f

t "Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War"— W. Trotter.

[10]

Ideals of the Telephone Service

Here we have portrayed the forward march of human-
ity toiling ever onward to attain its goal. The realization
that their wonderful art is destined to play such an
important part in this final attainment, opens up a
never-ending source of power and inspiration for tele-
phone men and women everywhere. It adds a new
dignity to their calling. Already, as we have seen, the
human voice has been carried with the speed of light
across the Atlantic Ocean, and across our continent,
and far out into the Pacific; but still greater things are
sure to come.

It is the mission of the Pioneers and their successors,
and their associates among all the nations, to build up
a telephone system extending to every part of the world,
connecting together all the peoples of the earth. I
believe that the art which was founded by Alexander
Graham Bell, our First Pioneer, will provide the means
for transmitting throughout the earth a great voice
proclaiming the dawn of a new era in which will be
realized that grandest of all our earthly aspirations —
the brotherhood of man.

John J. Carty.

[11]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Notes on Radio

THE following notes may be of some help to those
who are trying to gain a better idea of radio
and what it means to the telephone business.
The first part is intended to assist in forming a clear
picture of the physical nature of both wire and radio
transmission. The latter part is a brief discussion of
the fields of use for which radio has been developed, or
for which it is being considered.

Characteristics of Wire Transmission

It is undoubtedly the popular idea that in our wire
circuits the telephone waves are inside of the conductors,
somewhat in the manner that a liquid is inside of the
pipe conducting it. This is a very incomplete picture.
It is true that electrical currents are in the wires, but
the energy of the electromagnetic waves is largely out-
side of the wires, and surrounds them. We must imagine
these invisible waves, in the case of our open wire cir-
cuits, filling up all the space around the wires, and
within a distance of several feet of them, and rushing
along the circuit at a speed of many thousands of miles
a second, but prevented from spreading and guided
by the wires to exactly the place to which we wish the
waves to go.

In these wire systems, the electromagnetic waves
(except in the recent carrier systems) are transmitted
just as they come from the telephone transmitter, that
is, they have the same frequencies as does the voice
which causes them. They consist, therefore, of con-
stantly changing complex waves, made up of frequencies
varying from perhaps 200 cycles or less to over 2500
cycles per second.

Characteristics of Radio Transmission

In a radio system, on the other hand, while electro-
magnetic waves are also used, these are transmitted

[12]

Notes on Radio

into wire arrangements which we know as "antennae,"
so designed that a part of the waves become entirely
detached from the wires and spread out in all directions,
with no wire guides whatever, and limited in spreading
only by the surface of the earth and perhaps also by
layers of the upper atmosphere which have such electrical
characteristics as to reflect them back.

Thus, in our radio systems, we have no line problems.
We have acquired, however, several new sets of prob-
lems. I refer to (1) putting the voice waves into such
a condition that they may be radiated into space and
received from space, (2) separating the different radio
messages from each other, and (3) the problems arising
from the transmission characteristics of the space through
which the radio waves travel.

Our ordinary telephone waves do not radiate appre-
ciably from our circuits, partly because they are of too
low frequency to be effectively sent out from structures
of any ordinary size, and also because our wire circuits
are not of a form which radiates easily. However, if
these waves were liberated into space, they would travel
just as well, and in fact somewhat better than the higher
frequencies used in radio. Supposing they could be
liberated, however, it is evident we would be met by the
difficulty that all of our messages would interfere one
with another, since they would all have the same range
of frequencies, and since radio waves spread out in all
directions.

The above difficulties are overcome in radio by
generating a high frequency current for each message
we wish to send, and causing the voice currents to control
the magnitude of the high frequency waves that are sent
out. It is a characteristic of high frequency waves
that they may be radiated from comparatively small
antennae systems. By employing a different high
frequency for each of the telephone messages which we
wish to send, we may at any receiving point separate
any particular message from other messages which may
be in space at the same time, provided the message we

[13]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

desire is at a frequency differing sufficiently from the
frequencies of the others. This separating is done by
using so-called electrical tuning or electrical filter sys-
tems, which will let through the desired frequencies,
but will stop all others.

It should be noted that in discussing radio, we refer
to a message being sent out at a certain " frequency,"
or at a certain "wave length." All radio waves travel
practically at the same speed, that is, the speed of light,
which is 300,000,000 meters in a second. Now the
distance traveled in a second is the frequency multi-
plied by the wave length. If we know the frequency,
therefore, we can divide it into 300,000,000, and obtain
the wave length and vice versa. The longer the wave
length, therefore, the lower the frequency.

A good example of the difference in frequency required
for separate messages is in the case of broadcasting.
Until recently, all private broadcasting had been at a
wave length of 360 meters, which is a frequency of about
830,000 cycles per second. It has now been decided
to permit broadcasting simultaneously at a second wave
length of 400 meters, which is a frequency of 750,000
cycles per second. If the waves were any closer together
in frequency than this, it would not be possible, in some
sections, for many of the present types of receiving sets
to listen to the entertainment being sent out on one
without also overhearing the other in sufficient amount
to cause interference. The number of simultaneous
messages, therefore, is limited by the degree to which
the receiving sets can pick up one message and separate
it from all others, and by the total range in frequencies
which can be used in radio.

"Message Capacity of the Ether"

In discussing radio we commonly think of space as
being filled with a medium called the "ether," and that
it is this medium through which the electromagnetic
waves are transmitted. There is considerable question

[14]

Notes on Radio

whether this is a proper physical picture, but it is any-
how a convenient manner of speaking. We should
note, however, that if there is an "ether," the electro-
magnetic waves which we employ in our wire systems
are transmitted through it just as truly as are the radio
waves. With wire transmission, however, the electro-
magnetic waves travel through, and disturb only a
relatively small region in the ether immediately sur-
rounding the wires, whereas the radio waves disturb
the ether for a very large region extending in all direc-
tions from the transmitting station.

We sometimes hear in radio the expression "message
capacity of the ether." By this is meant the number of
simultaneous radio communications that can be carried
out in any region without interference. Evidently
this depends greatly on the locations of the stations, on
the type of apparatus used, and on the amount of inter-
ference permitted. Roughly speaking, however, it can
be said that if the entire range of frequencies which have
been developed for radio could be applied to radio
telephony, it would be possible with the type of sets in
general use to establish perhaps twenty-five simultaneous
non-interfering two-way channels in any given region.
In view, however, of radio telegraphy and radio broad-
casting, of the radio compass and beacon stations which
the government is establishing, and of the setting aside
of wave lengths for military purposes, difficulties have
already arisen in obtaining non-interfering wave lengths.

The radio conference which was brought together
by the Department of Commerce to consider the matter
recommended an allocation of wave lengths which, if
carried out, would leave the radio telephone situation as
follows:

For the ship-to-shore business, a range of frequencies
is allocated which would permit two simultaneous con-
versations to be carried on in any one region, by making
use of the best methods which have been developed in
the art. This space, however, is not set aside exclusively
for telephone service, but may also be occupied with

[15]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

certain types of ship-to-shore telegraph. This might
seriously interfere with the telephone service.

For trans-oceanic telephony no space was definitely
set aside, although a range of frequencies was designated
which would be sufficiently wide for one conversation,
and it was recommended that tests of such transmission
be permitted in this range.

For connection between fixed points, there were set
aside two narrow frequency bands. These are at wave
lengths best adapted for distances of several hundred
miles. Each of these, with a small amount of further
development work, could be made to carry a single
conversation. They are not assigned exclusively to
telephony, and so may be interfered with by telegraphy.

In each of the above cases, we have in mind two-way
communication which could be connected into the wire
system so that the radio would be an extension of the
wire service, and without the necessity of the talkers
using "push buttons" or other mechanical contrivances
for switching their sets from the talking to the listening
condition. The present art requires two wave lengths
for such a radio communication, since the same wave
length cannot ordinarily be used for each of the two
directions.

Comparatively liberal provision was made by the
committee for broadcasting purposes. Space was set
aside in the general region in which broadcasting is
now being done, permitting at least four simultaneous
broadcast channels with present sets in the districts
along the coast. This could be increased by at least
two in the interior of the country by using, in addition,
wave lengths which along the coast are employed in
marine telegraphy. Furthermore, a space was set
aside using much shorter wave lengths, in which several
more broadcast stations could work, although these
wave lengths would probably be less satisfactory for
such service. The above is in addition to several fre-
quency bands set aside for government and other official
broadcasting.

[16]

Notes on Radio

It is evident that the above does not give much room
in which radio telephony, aside from broadcasting, can
develop. However, methods have been worked out
theoretically, and to some extent in practice, by which
it would be possible to increase the message capacity
by several times. Such systems bring in considerable
complexity and expense, and these increase rapidly as
the channels are crowded closer together. With develop-
ments along this line, however, and with the further
developing of shorter wave lengths than are now in use,
we believe that the radio message possibilities can be
increased sufficiently to take care of the services which
require radio.

Transmission Characteristics of the " Ether"

Radio transmission is generally more variable than
is wire transmission. This depends, however, largely on
the wave lengths employed, and the distances covered.
As an example, the power received from the usual type
of broadcasting station at a distance of 30 miles is usually
fairly constant. At 200 miles, if the distance is over
land, the power received may vary hundreds of times
within a few hours, or even within a few minutes. For
longer distances the amount of variation rapidly increases.

Radio transmission over water is much less variable
than over land. The amount of variation increases
rapidly as the wave length is shortened.

Perhaps the most unhappy feature of transmission
through space is the well-known "static." This appears
to come from lightning and other electrical disturbances
in space, and varies tremendously in volume from summer
to winter, from day to day, and from hour to hour.
Tests made at a point in northern New Jersey for long
wave lengths show the average static at that point this
summer about 50 times as great in power as the average
static last winter. Variations of 25 times in static power
were recorded within single days. As it is generally
possible with modern receiving sets to amplify the
received signals to the point where static interference

[17]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

becomes so loud that further amplification is useless,
this large variation in the static means a large variation
in the distance to which the station may be heard.

It is because of these great variations in transmission
and in static that it is nearly impossible to state the
"range" over which a station may be heard. For example,
under favorable conditions, a broadcasting station in
the vicinity of New York has been heard far out on the
Pacific Ocean. Under unfavorable conditions, the same
station could not be heard satisfactorily at a 30 mile
distance.

Directivity and Secrecy

Directivity in radio consists in the use of an antenna
system so arranged that it does not radiate equally in
all directions, but sends out or receives very much better
in the direction of the station with which it is operating
than it does in other directions.

The advantage of directivity at the transmitting
end is a saving in power, since a larger percentage goes
in the desired direction, and an increase in the degree of
privacy of the message, since fewer stations will be in the
region where it can be effectively picked up. A large
difficulty here is that it is a physical law that it is not
possible to devise a radiating system which will be
efficient and which will also give sharp directivity unless
the antenna structure is large compared to the wave
length. As the radio waves which are generally in use
are comparatively long (for example the usual broad-
cast waves are over 1000 feet in length, and the longest
trans-oceanic radio telegraph waves over ten miles),
it is not possible, without large expense, to give such
waves more than a small degree of directivity at the
transmitting station. In receiving systems, however,
efficiency is not so important, as it can be made up to a
considerable extent by amplifiers, so that a moderate
degree of directivity at the receiving end can be frequently
employed. This has the advantage of cutting down
the amount of disturbance from static or from other

[18]

Notes on Radio

stations which may be coming in from directions other
than that from which the desired message is being
received.

Reports have been given out of tests carried on in
England covering directed radio system with 15 meter
wave lengths (20,000,000 cycles) and giving a much
greater degree of directivity than with the usual wave
lengths. There is considerable question, however, as
to the usefulness of so short wave lengths, in view of
the readiness with which they are absorbed.

Various means have been proposed for giving some
degree of secrecy to radio telephone messages. These
have depended generally on some action at the sending
point, such as distortion of the voice waves, adding a
noise frequency to them, continuously varying the wave
length on which they are sent out, or similar propositions
which would make it difficult for them to be picked up
and understood. At the desired receiving point these
systems depend on arrangements for removing the
distortion or noise, or compensating for the changing
wave length. While it is undoubtedly possible to devise
a secret radio method which it would be practically
impossible to tap, it would involve so great complication
as to make it unsuitable for general use. Other systems
have been developed which, while not "secret" are
"private," in that they could be tapped only by those
intending to do so, and using apparatus not generally
owned by the amateur. Even with such systems, how-
ever, the complication and expense of any so far developed
are larger than radio services can generally afford.

With this general discussion of radio, it will be inter-
esting to consider some of the fields for which radio has
been developed or considered.

Telephone Service to Ships or Other
Moving Vehicles

A radio station was established at appoint in New
Jersey, and radio connections set up to*afship at sea
through this station and then by wires to points as

[19]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

distant as San Francisco and Los Angeles. In some
of the tests, connections were established simultaneously
to two ships and to a third land station. The nominal
range of the station is considered to be 200 miles. Under
favorable conditions, it has talked to a ship 1600 miles
distant. Local conditions in summer may interrupt
the service at distances less than 200 miles. The ulti-
mate range given the station must, of course, depend
on commercial requirements as well as the technical
questions involved. Since the course of the trans-
oceanic liners parallels the coast for a considerable
way, it would be possible to reach such ships after they
are out of range of a New Jersey station, by other stations
on the coasts of New England.

A paper giving technical details of this system is
in preparation, and will be published during the winter.
At the present time, no further development work is
being done on this system, awaiting the working out
of the commercial problems which are involved in it.

Another development now being considered and which
may be undertaken is a short range telephone system
for use around the important harbors. This might be
of considerable importance to the railroads and other
companies operating tug boats, as it would permit the
tug boat dispatchers to keep closely in touch with
their craft, thus more efficiently keeping them in use.
It is possible that no wave length assignment can be
found for this service in the range now generally used
for radio, and it will be necessary to go to shorter wave
lengths.

Radio is of peculiar importance to airships, in that
it furnishes a means by which they may be guided to
their destinations. If they ever become of importance
from a passenger or express-carrying standpoint, they
will bear a relation to the Bell System similar to that
of the ships at sea.

Another'use of radio telephony which may ultimately
be made is that of connection to moving trains. This
is entirely a feasible proposition, but the cost of develop-

[20]

Notes on Radio

ing, setting up and operating such a system at present
would, we believe, be too large in comparison with the
probable amount of service which would result.

Radio Across Natural Barriers

Perhaps the most spectacular service for which
radio will probably be applied in the future is the connec-
tion of the wire telephone system in America with the
wire telephone systems in Europe and in other continents.
Communication over such distances was shown possible
by the tests of the Bell Telephone engineers in trans-
mitting from Arlington to Paris and Honolulu in 1915.
Large developments have been made in the art since
that time, but considerable further work remains to be
done before such a system can be established and operated
at an annual charge sufficiently low to justify it com-
mercially. There may also be difficulty in obtaining
suitable wave lengths.

The Catalina Island system was the first radio
telephone system to go into regular commercial use.
It spans a 25 mile gap of water between the mainland
near Los Angeles and Catalina Island. The details
of this installation have already been published in the
Proceeding of the Institute of Radio Engineers for
December, 1921. It is the only case, at least in so far as
information has been published, in which radio is fur-
nishing a commercial service, and meeting in both
transmission and signaling, but not as regards secrecy
or economy, the ordinary requirements of wire service.

There are undoubtedly a large number of other cases
in this country where radio will be used for establishing
connections with districts to which it would be difficult
or impossible to maintain wires. This will probably not
be done on any large scale, until radio apparatus, by
further development has been somewhat simplified and
cheapened.

In many of the cases where radio will be used for
reaching outlying points, the necessary reduction in

[21]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

cost to prove it in will be obtained by making use of
systems which do not meet the requirements of ordinary
wire systems, but which will be sufficiently good for
the limited service required by these points. For example,
in one case recently considered it was thought satisfactory
for the system to operate merely between a pair of
telephone sets, one at each terminal, with no signaling
devices whatsoever, and with communication carried
on only for a few hours each day, and then at appointed
times.

Broadcasting

A service for which radio, by its inherent nature, is
particularly fitted, is that of broadcasting music, news,
etc., to a large number of people who can listen to it by
means of comparatively simple receiving sets. This
type of system has become so thoroughly known as to
require no explanation here. It is not a two-way service,
and is not, therefore, of the same type as the usual
telephone service. In this case the usual difficulties
with radio of lack of secrecy and of spreading out over
a large territory are the particular features fitting it for
broadcasting economically over a wide area.

Telephone Service for Rural Communities

While, from the inherent nature of radio, it is entirely
absurd to consider it for carrying on the usual telephone
service in place of wire systems in districts which are
well developed in population, we have attempted to
determine whether it could be developed to give telephone
service at a sufficiently low cost to find a field in very
sparsely settled country districts.

In this connection, it should be pointed out that
radio is purely a method of transmission of messages.
In giving telephone service, it is necessary that we not
only have means of transmitting our messages, but also
means of connecting the transmitting channels together,
so that any two subscribers may be permitted to talk.
This is the function of the central office, and of the

[22]

Notes on Radio

operators who are employed there. Radio in no way
avoids the necessity for this switching function.

As in the case of a multi-party wire line, it would be
possible to arrange with radio so that a small group of
subscribers could directly connect with each other.
This, however, would not relieve the necessity of their
being able to connect through a central office into the
wire system, in order to reach more than a very restricted
district.

A radio system, for connecting together a group
of farmers and connecting the group to a central office,
would need to include transmitting and receiving appa-
ratus, and also the necessary power supply and calling
devices, in addition to ordinary substation apparatus.
Since a part of the apparatus would need to be con-
tinuously energized to receive signaling, tube renewals
would be an important factor in the annual charges.
It is evident that the radio art, as it now exists, cannot
meet these requirements at anything like the $2.00 or
$3.00 per month which the farmer usually pays for his
wire service. Even with an optimistic estimate as to
changes which can be brought about by development, it
appears that in the rural field, as elsewhere, radio te-
lephony will be limited to giving telephone service to
comparatively isolated places, or under conditions which
make the maintenance of wires more than usually diffi-
cult.

This does not mean, however, that low power radio
transmitting sets, perhaps for use in combination with
broadcast receiving sets, may not be used in considerable
numbers as an amusement, permitting a number of
people in a community to talk together as a group in
the evenings or at other appointed times.

Some Conditions of Radio Development

The tremendous range of frequencies and energies
employed in radio bring in many difficult but interesting
technical problems. The frequencies employed vary

[23]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

from around 50,000 cycles per second, which was used
in telephoning to Paris and Honolulu, to frequencies of
around 20,000,000 cycles per second, which have been
employed in experimental radio work. The energy put
into the antenna in the usual broadcasting radio station
is about Y% kilowatt. In experimental telephone work,
powers have been produced up to 100 kilowatts. These
should be compared to about 0.1 watt, which is the maxi-
mum voice wave energy, under usual conditions, that
is put on our wire circuits. At the receiving end of
radio the powers are extremely small. At a distance of
say 30 miles from a broadcasting station the usual
amateur antenna will pick up perhaps a few millionths
of a watt.

From the discussion which we have given it may
be evident why it is that the development engineer has
viewed radio with somewhat conflicting emotions. In
perhaps no other part of the communication art have
there been developed more beautiful technical methods
or apparatus, or is there presented to him a more intensely
interesting group of technical problems. It has opened
up possibilities of giving new fields of telephone service,
and the results which it has yielded and promises to
yield in these fields appeal greatly to his imagination, as
they do to that of the general public. Yet in perhaps
no other field has the development engineer dealt neces-
sarily with factors inherently so variable, or so little
under his control, or has the development work yielded
so little in results of practical commercial importance,
as compared to the large expenditures made. Further-
more we know that to put radio telephony into such shape
that it can give those services for which it is fitted will
require that we continue intensive development for many
years.

We have in mind, however, that with the constantly
increasing demands for all types of communications the
radio field, limited though it is in scope, may be expected
to grow to considerable proportions. Furthermore we
are watching with large interest the apparently great

[24]

Notes on Radio

appeal of radio telephone broadcasting to the general
public. As already noted, the difficulties of radio for
ordinary telephone work, that is, the spreading out over
wide territory and non-secrecy are just the characteristics
which are desirable in broadcasting. It may be that
here there is a service in which radio telephony can
assume considerable commercial importance, and much
more than justify the large amount of development work
which must be given to it.

0. B. Blackwell.

[25]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Service in the Making

IT is easy to define good service. From the view-
point of the person desiring to talk, it consists in
being able to reach promptly and without con-
fusion any person desired and to talk satisfactorily and
without interruption. To give good service, however,
under present conditions is a difficult problem for the
telephone companies and it becomes increasingly so year
by year. It is also seldom appreciated how important
a part the subscribers themselves play in the giving of
telephone service. The person desired must have a
telephone or be near one and he should answer a call
promptly and courteously. He should have sufficient
telephone faculties so that his lines will not be busy an
undue portion of the time. If he has a private branch
exchange, he should provide himself with competent
operators, and if he does not answer the telephone him-
self, he should make provision for someone else to answer
it properly. The calling subscriber should know how
to make his calls, he should give the call accurately and
clearly to the operator, and he should pay attention to
her repetition. He should know how to use the trans-
mitter and receiver so as to obtain the maximum effi-
ciency from those instruments. He should know the
significance of such signals as the audible ringing signal,
and he should know how to signal the operator. Sub-
scribers on party lines should refrain from interference
with other persons on their lines who may be talking. If
there is failure in any of these ways, the subscriber can-
not receive satisfactory service although the telephone
company does everything in its power.

Responsibilities of the Telephone Company

Coming to the responsibilities of the telephone com-
pany, mention should be made of the commercial depart-
ment which handles the business relations with subscribers
and which aids them in providing themselves with proper
facilities to handle their telephone business. It must

[26]

Service in the Making

also provide adequate directories so that the subscriber
may know with whom he can talk and it must see that
proper attention is given to all suggestions or complaints.
However, the functions of the telephone company in
giving service which are most commonly recognized are
the provision of adequate plant properly maintained
and the work of the traffic department which operates
the plant and performs the actions necessary to connect
one subscriber with another. It is with traffic work
that this article is primarily concerned, but any descrip-
tion of telephone service which did not mention the
important functions of the subscribers themselves and
of the commercial, plant and engineering departments
would be incomplete.

Problems of the Traffic Department

The most difficult problem of the traffic department
is to maintain a satisfactory grade of service in the face
of the continual increase in size and complexity of the
telephone system. If we think of the early days of the
telephone when subscribers were few and exchanges small
and not inter-connected, the operating work seems sim-
ple as compared with the problems of today. I have
in my office a copy of the first telephone directory issued
in 1878 and it contains fifty names and no numbers.
If you can now visualize such an exchange, the sub-
scribers would call by name for the few other people
having telephone service and it would be easy for an
operator to handle the simple equipment and to make
connection with one of the few lines which might be
desired, to ring on that line and to take down the con-
nection when the conversation was over. No record
need be made of the call since the charges would be on
a flat rate basis, and beyond ordinary attention and
courtesy, the requirement for telephone operators would
be simple. But conditions such as those are not found
today and the present Bell Telephone System with its
Connecting Companies consists of a vast and complicated

[27]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

network, representing an investment of over two billion
dollars and providing means for connecting any two of
nearly 14,000,000 stations which may be located any-
where in the United States or in Cuba or in portions of
Canada and Mexico.

The most complicated portions of the telephone sys-
tem are naturally those in large cities and the surround-
ing territory, and in the case of the largest metropolitan
area, New York, some 1,400,000 stations connected with
260 offices are located within a thirty-mile radius. Even
in the case of a call between two subscribers in the same
office, the work of the traffic department has long since
changed from the simple conditions forty years ago and
it becomes increasingly difficult year by year. Ten
thousand lines and upwards of twenty thousand stations
may be connected to a single office and to make even
the simplest kind of connection in large cities, the services
of at least two operators are now required. It would
be physically impossible to make telephone connections
now with the apparatus of early days and the develop-
ment of improved telephone plant has more than kept
pace with even the enormous growth in business. To
provide good service to the subscribers, to assist the
operators, and to aid in overcoming the increasingly
difficult conditions, vast amounts of machinery are now
provided, much of which is automatic in operation, and
the operator of today must be skilled in the use of all
this modern plant. For example, the operator no longer
rings the called subscriber but that important action is
performed automatically and mention might also be
made of the methods for distributing the calls so as to
assure prompt attention by any one of a group of oper-
ators, of the call circuits by means of which the operator
answering the subscriber enlists the aid of another
operator necessary to complete the connection, and of
the many automatic signals by means of which the oper-
ator follows the progress of the call, advises the sub-
scriber if the line is busy and attends his wishes if further
action is necessary. By means of these automatic

[28]

Service in the Making

signals the operator knows at all times, without listen-
ing on the connection, whether the subscriber is at his
telephone, whether he has answered the call, whether
he has finished talking and hung up and whether he
wishes to make another call or attract the operator's
attention for some other purpose. These automatic
signals are transmitted over considerable distances and
in the case of a call between New York and Philadelphia,
for instance, one operator has control of the connection
and is provided with just as complete signals from the
subscriber at the distant point as from the one in her
own city. Development work is now being carried on
which will extend still further the distance over which
automatic signals can be transmitted and thus improve
the service and simplify the work of the operators.

Machine Switching System

There is a marked tendency to make the apparatus
more and more automatic so that the subscriber him-
self can follow the progress of his call and know when a
line called is busy or when the bell is ringing and the
called subscriber is slow to answer, without waiting for
the operator to advise him on these matters. The
latest development in this direction is the machine
switching system which is now coming into use and on
which the general staff was working for a long time.
This system calls for apparatus more complicated than
any previously employed in telephone work but it provides
means for the entire handling of a local call by machinery
under direction from the subscriber. It might be thought
that the introduction of the machine switching system
would mean the gradual elimination of the telephone
operator, but such is not the case. The growth of the
business is so rapid and there will always be so many
calls, including long distance, toll and special, as well
as local calls, which cannot be handled entirely by machin-
ery, that very large numbers of operators will always be
required and for a good many years to come the use of

[29]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

the machine switching system means simply that the
increase in the operating forces will be less than if the
manual system were retained.

With the great growth of the business, it has become
necessary to count the calls at the larger places in order
to make the charges fair to all patrons, and for this
purpose there are registering devices and special clocks
for the operators' assistance. With the continual move-
ment among subscribers, furthermore, means must
be provided so that the operators will know, without
stopping to refer to a list, if a subscriber has given up
his telephone service, if he has moved to another office,
or if for any reason his line is in trouble, and the operators
must be constantly alert to note and report those con-
ditions to the calling subscriber.

Complications in Metropolitan Areas

The preceding description has been concerned largely
with a single office, and even one of these large offices
is a tremendously complicated set of machinery requir-
ing in some cases the services of as many as four hundred
operators. Within thirty miles of New York, however,
there is not one, but two hundred and sixty offices, many
of which are as large as the present design of apparatus
will permit. The calling subscriber, furthermore, expects
to be connected promptly with any one of these two
hundred and sixty offices, and the operators must know
instantly the proper method of making '^connection to
each office, and she must have facility in using the
machinery provided for those connections. Direct trunk
circuits are provided to offices to which there is a con-
siderable amount of business. Offices to which there is
less business are ^reached through other offices by tan-
dem or double tandem methods, the essential circuit
arrangement, operating methods and service being sim-
ilar to that where* there 'are direct trunks. In the case
of a call which is double tandemed, however, four oper-
ators are required to complete a single connection.

[30]

Service in the Making

Offices to which there are relatively few calls, usually
those in the outlying sections, are reached by special
operating methods through what are known as toll
boards, and three of these connecting centers are required
to reach all of the 260 offices. Beyond the metropolitan
area, calls are handled through another form of toll or
long distance board, of which more will be said a little
later. When we consider that the subscriber simply
announces the office name and number desired, it will
be evident that the operator must be well trained and
expert to know instantly through which one of many
channels that office is reached and the proper operating
method and equipment to employ in each case. The
resulting complications of the switchboard itself are
necessarily very great, with facilities for operating in
hundreds of different directions. It is difficult to give
a comprehensive picture of the intricate trunk plant
connecting the different offices, but it may be of interest
to state that in the city of New York as much under-
ground cable plant is required to inter-connect about
one hundred offices as is needed to connect 1,000,000
stations with their own offices. While the New York
metropolitan area has the largest population and the
most complicated telephone system, there are similar
conditions in the case of all large cities, and the problems
of the traffic department are constantly increasing with
the growth in the business.

Toll and Long Distance Calls

Mention has been made of toll and long distance calls,
which are those between two offices not in the same
exchange area and for which a special charge is made
in proportion to the distance. In no phase of telephone
work have the developments been more startling than
in extending the range of long distance calls. The first
toll circuits were short and consisted of open wires con-
necting nearby cities. The operating methods were
relatively simple and the operator answering the sub-

[31]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

scriber could herself make connection over the few toll
circuits then existing. Today, however, a subscriber
can talk across the continent and even to islands beyond
the continent, as in the case of Cuba — by means of sub-
marine cables, and Catalina — by means of wireless
working from the mainland. Whereas the first toll
circuits consisted of a few miles of open wires, it would
take several pages to even describe a telephone circuit
connecting Boston, for example, with Catalina Island
or Havana. In addition to thousands of miles of open
wire, there are hundreds of miles of cable either under-
ground or aerial, there are loading coils to overcome the
capacity of the cables, there are repeaters to supply new
energy to the conversation on its long journey, there
are submarine cables or wireless links to cross the rivers
and the sea, and there are innumerable equipment devices
at the many offices through which the calls must route.
The wires stretch across deserts and over mountains
where they are frequently the only indication of civiliza-
tion. When we consider that the slightest break in the
7,000 miles of wire or in any of the many pieces of ap-
paratus would prevent a transcontinental conversation,
it is a constant marvel that telephone plant can be built
and maintained with the necessary degree of perfection.
The work of operating a long distance call is also dif-
ficult and it is an enormous stride from the early days
of short toll circuits over which two operators could
complete a call to the present transcontinental con-
nections, to handle each of which from ten to sixteen or
more operators are necessary. A call, for example,
from Augusta, Maine, to Catalina Island must be switch-
ed at Portland, New York, Chicago, San Francisco,
Los Angeles and Long Beach, and the operating methods
must be carefully worked out and the operators them-
selves must be expert in order that there may be perfect
cooperation on such a call. That sort of call is a strik-
ing illustration of the necessity for uniform and standard
operating methods and practices throughout the Bell
System and a large force of men is continuously engaged

[32]

Service in the Making

in the study of these methods and in the development
of improved practices.

Magnitude of Traffic Work

The magnitude of traffic department operations can
perhaps be visualized by the statement that the Bell
owned companies alone employ 130,000 operators to
serve some 9,000,000 stations, which make over 11,-
000,000,000 calls a year, and we are still far from the
end. If we look forward to 1940, there will probably be
25,000,000 telephones in the United States, and the com-
plexities of telephone plant and operations increase much
more rapidly than the number of stations. The 130,000
operators are located in 5,800 offices, and it is a difficult
problem to properly house and care for this large force.
The telephone buildings and land alone represent an
investment of over $150,000,000 and, as an interesting
detail, in the single item of lunches, which are provided
only in the larger cities where the girls cannot conveniently
go home for lunch, there is a considerable business turn-
ing over some $8,000,000 a year.

In spite of the great growth in the business and the
enormous increase in its complications, American tele-
phone service today is the best that it has ever been, and
the telephone operators and the traffic supervising forces
may well be gratified at the record they have made and
are making in public service. It is no time, however,
to rest on past accomplishments, since the traffic problems
of the future will be more difficult than those of the past.
If the traffic departments continue to work with the same
zeal and intelligence, there is every reason to believe
that they will be equal to the demands upon them, and
I hope that this short article will give some picture of
their problems and of the work of telephone operating,
which has become one of the principal and best considered
occupations for women.

K. W. Waterson.

[33]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Poles

NEXT to the telephone instrument itself, the
element of telephone plant which is most
familiar to the public is the pole. In attempt-
ing to visualize the enormous number of poles required
by the Bell System, it may be helpful to consider that
the nearly 15,000,000 poles now in use would furnish
sufficient material for a railroad trestle, thirty feet high,
reaching from Chicago to Buenos Aires. Additions and
replacements call for three-quarters of a million new
poles each year, or enough to build a telephone line two-
thirds of the distance around the earth. These com-
parisons may also serve to indicate the magnitude and
the consequent importance of the pole problem in the
Bell System.

Much work has been done by Bell System engineers
to enable pole lines to be designed so as to meet service
conditions most economically. This has included in-
vestigations of the stresses in the poles and other portions
of the line under such wind and ice loads as may reason-
ably be expected to occur in the locality where the line
is*constructed, experiments to determine the strengths
of many different kinds of timber and researches into
the effects of various preservatives in increasing the
durability of poles.

The most economical poles for use in any particular
section of the country are those poles which will with-
stand the required load at the minimum annual cost.

The load carried by a pole depends upon the weight
of the wires or cables which it sustains and the pressure
of the wind upon them. The most severe loads occur
when the wires or cables are heavily coated with ice and
a strong wind is blowing in a direction at right angles to
the line.

Factors which affect the load, in addition to the num-
ber and size of wires and cables, are the lengths of spans
between poles, the climatic conditions (wind and ice) to

[34]

Poles

which the line is exposed, and the degree of shelter of the
line, as by hills, forests or buildings.

The annual cost, which includes return on invest-
ment, taxes, reserve for replacement and maintenance,
depends chiefly on first cost and length of life.

Into the first cost of the pole, in place, enter such items
as the price at the woods, the freight rate (depending
on the weight of the pole and the distance of the place
where it is to be used from the point of supply), and the
cost of hauling and erecting.

The length of life depends upon a variety of factors,
the most important of which (apart from questions of
inadequacy and obsolescence) are the character of the
timber, whether or not a preservative treatment is
employed and, if so, the nature of the treatment, the
local climatic conditions and the original size of the pole.

The importance of the latter factor, the original
size of the pole, is due to the fact that those who are
responsible for the plant and the service have to decide,
for every type of construction, taking into account all
the conditions of location, exposure and use, how little
sound wood may remain at the ground line section of
the pole before it should be replaced on account of decay.
If the original size of the pole is only slightly more than
this critical size at which replacement should be made,
the life of the pole will be very short as decay will reduce
the size at the ground line to the critical size within a
few years.

On the other hand, whereas a pole of huge size at the
ground line would have a very long life before decaying
sufficiently to require replacement, the cost of so stout
a pole might readily be so great that its annual cost
would exceed that of a smaller and cheaper pole.

Principal Kinds of Pole Timber

The principal kinds of wood used for poles are eastern
cedar, western cedar, chestnut, and yellow pine. The
eastern cedar now used for poles comes mainly from

[35]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Minnesota. There are also extensive tracts in Canada,
and some in northern Maine. In years past enormous
quantities have been cut in both the northern and south-
ern peninsulas of Michigan, and in northern Wisconsin.
Locations in swamps and along streams afford favorable
conditions for the growth of this timber. Under normal
conditions cedar poles require from one hundred to two
hundred years to grow. Western cedar grows on both
the eastern and western slopes of the Cascade Mountains
and on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in
the extreme northwest section of the United States and
adjoining parts of Canada. Chestnut is found prin-
cipally along the Atlantic Coast and in the Appalachian
Mountain regions. North of Virginia, chestnut has
within recent years been practically exterminated by
the chestnut blight. While the blight-killed trees have
been available for poles, this region, after being cut over,
will, in general, cease to be a source of future supply,
at least for many years. To what extent the blight will
enter the region south of Virginia, where are found the
principal stands of chestnut timber, cannot be answered
at the present time. Chestnut grows more rapidly than
cedar, an average chestnut pole requiring from forty to
sixty years to grow. Yellow pine grows principally in
the south Atlantic and gulf states. Pine grows quickly,
on the average taking somewhat less time than chestnut
to produce poles.

Strength and Weight

Chestnut, yellow pine, and western cedar are about
equal in strength. Eastern cedar has about 70 per cent,
of the strength of these timbers. The values as to tim-
ber strength which form the basis for pole line design in
the Bell System have been derived by our engineers
from experiments on poles which have been tested by
breaking them under measured loads. The figures are
considerably smaller than those frequently found in
text books on strengths of materials. The difference

[36]

Poles

is due to the defects found in the actual poles, whereas
the small specimens subjected to the ordinary laboratory
tests are so selected as to be clear and straight-grained.
Tests recently conducted on some old cedar poles that
had been many years in service show that there is but
little, if any, tendency for the fibre strength to deteriorate
when the wood remains sound.

There is considerable difference in the weights of the
different pole timbers. This has a direct bearing on the
costs of transportation and distribution and, to some
extent, affects the cost of erecting. Chestnut and
creosoted yellow pine poles weigh almost twice as much
as cedar poles of the same size. In the case of yellow
pine the treating process adds about a third to the weight
of the untreated pole. The degree of seasoning has a
considerable effect on the weights of poles. Chestnut
poles are ordinarily shipped in a fairly green condition,
whereas cedar poles are frequently held at a concentra-
tion point for a sufficient time to season partially, at
least. Except in the case of unusually tall poles, the
weakest section is at or close to the ground line. For
poles of a given length and kind of timber, the breaking
strength varies theoretically with the cube of the diam-
eter at the weakest section. This relation serves to
show why it is that thick poles are so much stronger than
slim poles. For example, a pole 12 inches in diameter
at the ground line is 70 per cent, stronger than one 10
inches in diameter, and a 15-inch pole is 240 per cent,
stronger than a 10-inch pole. This relation also explains
why it is that a limited amount of "hollow heart" has
only a trifling effect on the strength of a pole.

Only those kinds of timber which are most durable
after the trees are cut are suitable for poles. Hardness
and density of the wood seem to have no effect on its
durability. The durability of short-lived timber can,
however, be increased greatly by suitable preservative
treatment. This is necessary in the case of yellow pine,
and is advantageous in many cases with other kinds of
timber. The action of the preservative in retarding

[37]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

decay can perhaps be more readily understood after a
brief explanation of the nature of decay in timber.

Nature of Decay

Wood is composed of a multitude of minute elon-
gated cells which he closely side by side to form the wood
structure. The surfaces of these cells are in contact
with each other and are held together firmly by a cement-
like tissue. When timber is fractured there is a tearing
away of these cemented surfaces. The decay of timber
is caused by the activity of low forms of plant life, prin-
cipally in the form of fungus threads, which feed upon
and dissolve the walls of these wood cells. These organ-
isms are so minute that a powerful microscope is re-
quired to see them, yet their work results in the destruc-
tion of billions of feet of timber every year. They can
grow either in light or darkness, but all of them require
certain amounts of air, moisture, heat, and food; the
latter being the wood itself. If one or more of these
things is lacking the organism cannot live and the decay
of timber will not take place. Wood constantly sub-
merged in water does not rot, because there is an insuffi-
cient supply of air. On the other hand, if wood can be
kept dry it will not decay, because there will then be too
little moisture.

The decay-producing fungi do not flourish in ordinary
soils at a depth of more than about two feet, on account
of the lack of air. The atmospheric moisture is suffi-
cient to permit the development of the dry-rot fungus.
Wood freshly cut contains enough water at all seasons
of the year to enable the decay organisms to flourish.
In the case of cedar and chestnut poles, the portion of
the pole above ground does not ordinarily decay, except
at a very slow rate. The butt end of the pole, deeply
buried in the ground, although frequently permanently
damp, does not get sufficient air for rapid decay to take
place. It is near the ground line, where the earth holds
the moisture and keeps the wood damp for long periods
in the presence of air, that decay is most rapid. Pre-

[38]

Poles

servatives act antiseptically to kill the fungus growths
that produce decay. They are also effective to some
extent in preventing the entrance of moisture by plug-
ging the pores of the wood.

Preservatives

Various metallic salts, such as zinc chloride, copper
sulphate, and corrosive sublimate, have been used in
this country and in Europe for preserving timber for
various uses, but experience has shown that dead oil of
coal tar, usually termed coal tar creosote, or simply
creosote, is more effective for pole preservation than
these metallic salts. While the preservative action is
probably due to the poisonous effects of water soluble
constituents of the preservative, it is also important
that the preservative as a whole should not be freely
soluble in water as then it would be leached from the
timber too quickly. It is also obvious that the use of
materials poisonous to human beings and domestic
animals is undesirable.

Bell System engineers early appreciated the advan-
tages of creosote as a preservative, and for fully twenty-
five years they have been acquiring data as to the results
obtained from its use. This has been done by placing
large numbers of experimentally treated poles alternately
with untreated poles in lines in various parts of the
country ^nd, at regular intervals, usually every three
years, carefully measuring the extent of decay in both
the treated and untreated poles. Examinations thus
made of thousands of poles treated in various ways have
enabled trustworthy and reliable results to be obtained
from which to determine the added life resulting from
the treatment.

While our experiments have largely been directed
toward discovering the best methods of using coal tar
creosote, we have by no means neglected to test many
other kinds of preservatives. In fact, our experiments
have included every known preservative which has
offered promise of success. At the present time numerous

[39]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

preservative materials and processes are undergoing
preliminary trial in a special laboratory room main-
tained at a temperature and humidity favorable to decay,
where test specimens of timber, to which the new materials
and methods have been applied, are placed in close
proximity to the decay-producing fungi. By this means
results are obtained in a few years which are fairly com-
parable to those which would require considerably longer
under actual service conditions.

Yellow pine, although a strong and otherwise satis-
factory pole timber, decays rapidly, particularly in the
South, if used without preservative. Moreover, the
decay is not confined to the ground line, but speedily
affects the entire pole in the absence of suitable treat-
ment. Fortunately, the structural character of this
timber is such that it can readily be treated. All yellow
pine poles used in the Bell System are creosoted through-
out their entire length. The usual method of apply-
ing this treatment requires a somewhat elaborate plant,
the principal feature being the treating cylinder, of
which there are several at each of the larger plants. The
average modern treating cylinder ranges from 120 to
130 feet in length and from 6 to 7 feet in diameter. It
is constructed like a steel boiler shell, with one or both
ends hinged so that they can be opened. The timber
to be treated is piled on small cars which run on rails
that lead directly into the cylinder at one end. After
the timber is moved into the cylinder the latter is tightly
sealed and filled with steam. The timber is steamed
for several hours, the length of time and the temperature
being regulated bj' the specifications which our engineers
have prepared in the light of all their experience with
these matters. The steaming softens and opens the
wood cells and liquifies and removes the resinous and
sappy constituents of the timber. After the steaming
is discontinued a vacuum is applied to the cylinder.
This assists in evaporating the water left in the timber
after the steaming process. When the vacuum has done
its work, the pumping is stopped and the cylinder filled

[40]

Poles

from a large tank containing hot creosote. After the
cylinder is completely filled, pressure sufficient to force
the specified amount of oil into the timber is applied.
After the pressure is released the oil is pumped back into
the tank and the difference in the initial and final read-
ings of the gauge attached to the tank shows the amount
of oil that has been absorbed by the timber.

In the case of cedar and chestnut the portion of the
pole above the ground line has normally a very long
life. It is the portion of the pole at or just below the
ground line which decays most rapidly. For this reason
much attention has been given to methods for applying
preservatives to the butt end of the pole, extending up
for about a foot above the ground line, and leaving the
upper portion of the pole untreated. The simplest way
of doing this is to apply the preservative like paint with
a brush. In order that definite information might be
obtained as to the value of these brush treatments, the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company, in 1902,
initiated a series of experiments jointly with the United
States Forest Service. Several hundred poles were in-
cluded in these tests. All the preservatives used were
carefully analyzed. The experiments included brush
treatments with several different kinds of carbolineum,
dead oil of coal tar, and a number of kinds of wood cre-
osote. Some of these poles were set in the coast region
of Georgia, where conditions are favorable to rapid decay,
and some were set in western Pennsylvania and New
York. The treated poles were set alternately with un-
treated poles, in order that comparisons might be made.

Another line of experimentation which has been car-
ried out by this company in cooperation with the Forest
Service has been the treatment of pole butts with cre-
osote by the so-called "open tank" process. With this
method the butts of the poles are placed in a tank and
immersed in creosote to a point about one foot above the
ground line. The creosote is then heated above the
boiling point of water, generally by means of steam pipes
within the tank. This converts the water in the wood

[41]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

cells into steam, most of which escapes by bubbling
through the oil. The air in the wood cells is also ex-
panded and partially expelled. After the pole has been
thoroughly heated in this manner, the hot creosote is
quickly replaced by cool creosote, or the poles are quickly
transferred to another tank containing cold oil. In either
case the effect is to form a partial vacuum in the wood
cells, allowing the creosote to be forced into the timber
by atmospheric pressure. These poles have been in-
spected regularly and a large amount of information
obtained as to the extension of their life resulting from
the treatment.

Improvements in treating have recently been made
whereby, by perforating the sapwood of the pole for a
short distance above and below the ground line, it is
made easier for the creosote to enter the wood at this
section of the pole, and more uniform depths of pene-
tration are secured. The perforations are generally from
a quarter to a half inch deep, and are closely spaced.

Untreated chestnut rots considerably faster than
untreated cedar. For this reason, coupled with the
expectation of future scarcity of chestnut, work is being
actively pushed which is expected to lead to the installa-
tion of local treating plants, within the areas from which
the supply of chestnut poles is now being drawn, so that
the poles may be concentrated at these points and given
an effective treatment, extending from the butt to a
point above the ground line when the pole is set. The
first of these plants, with a capacity of 10,000 poles a
year, is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.

Creosote contains various volatile and soluble con-
stituents, which very gradually escape from treated tim-
ber during protracted exposure to the elements. Cre-
osoted poles that have been in service from 10 to 25 years
have been removed from the line and the creosote ex-
tracted from them and analyzed with great care. As
the original composition of the creosote had been very
carefully determined by analysis at the time when the
poles were treated, it has been possible to discover what

[42]

Poles

changes had taken place in it. Investigations of this
kind are still going on. They are important in that
they furnish data that enables our engineers to revise
the specifications for the creosote in order to obtain the
grade that is best suited to the work. They are showing
that most of the constituents of the creosote tend slowly
to escape from the treated timber, the action being more
rapid in the portions of the poles which are above ground.
The rate of escape, however, is so slow that the value
of the treatment is well established.

Poles of Steel and Concrete

The question is sometimes asked why poles of steel
or of reinforced concrete are not more generally used
instead of wood poles. Our engineers in 1909, designed
a series of concrete poles of which a large number were
constructed. Some of these were tested and their actual
breaking load was found to be close to the computed
values. The remainder of these poles, about 500 in all,
were placed in actual service in pole lines in various parts
of the United States, in order that their behavior under
the stresses due to wind and sleet loads, the vibration
caused by the wires and cables, and the effects of frost,
lightning, and other actions of the elements might be
observed. The poles are being inspected every three
years.

The mo^t expensive element in a reinforced concrete
pole is the steel reinforcement. Steel is vastly more
expensive per cubic foot than either concrete or wood.
In order to obtain reinforced concrete poles comparable
in strength with the wooden poles generally used in the
telephone plant, so much steel is required that poles of
reinforced concrete or steel are much more expensive
than wooden poles, even at the prices which obtain at
the present time.

Looking into the Future

These concrete poles have not been made with the
thought that they or any other concrete poles will gen-

[43]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

erally supersede wooden poles within a short time. They
have been placed in service so that experience with them
will be obtained which will serve as a guide to our engi-
neers in the future, should the time ever come when the
relative costs of these poles in comparison with wood are
such as to indicate that their use might be justifiable.

It is the aim of our engineers in the conduct of this,
as well as all of our experimental work, to anticipate
future conditions and such new requirements as may be
brought about thereby, sufficiently in advance so that
we shall be able to develop and have ready thoroughly
tried-out materials and methods when these are required,
to the end that the orderly expansion of the business
will not be checked and the Associated Companies forced
to install new and untried materials in their plants.
This work is one portion of the Bell System policy of
preparedness.

Frederick L. Rhodes.

[44J

World's Telephone Statistics

ON January 1, 1921 there were 20,850,550 tele-
phones in the world; of these 13,329,379, or 64%,
were in the United States and 12,601,935, or 60%,
were connected to the Bell System. The number of
telephones in all the countries of Europe combined was
5,289,606, or 25% of the world's total ; all other countries
had 2,231,565 telephones, or only 11% of the world's
total. During the seven years 1914 to 1920, inclusive,
5,962,000 telephones were added to the telephone sys-
tems of the world, an increase of 40%. The total num-
ber of telephones at the beginning of 1921 was equivalent
to 1.2 instruments for each 100 of the world's population.

The Scope Of The Statistics

These figures summarize the results of a compilation
of the world's telephone statistics for January 1, 1921
recently completed and published by the Chief Statisti-
cian's Division of the American Telephone and Telegraph
Company, from which the accompanying tables and
charts have been taken. Owing to the war, which
interrupted our lines of communication with many foreign
countries on statistical matters, this compilation consti-
tutes the first complete summary of its kind which has
been made since that for January 1, 1914. Upon the
termination of the war, communication was gradually
reestablished with officials of foreign telephone systems,
both Government and private; and it is upon data
obtained through the courteous cooperation of such
officials that the present compilation is based. It should
perhaps be pointed out that the preparation of such a
compilation, depending as it does upon the relatively
slow processes of correspondence with various types of
organizations in all quarters of the globe, necessarily
requires the expenditure of considerable time if com-
plete results are to be secured.

Despite the disturbed conditions which have prevailed
in many parts of the world, accurate official information

[45]

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Bell Telephone Quarterly

was received for almost all countries, including the new
European states created as a result of the peace treaties.
In the case of those countries for which it was impossible
to secure wholly authoritative figures for January 1,
1921, estimates were, of course, necessary; but practically
without exception it was possible to base these estimates
upon official data for earlier years, and accordingly the
margin of error to which thej' are subject is undoubtedly
very small. In the table on " Telephone Development
of the World, By Countries", it was not considered prac-
ticable to show data separately for each individual
country; for purposes of condensation the less important
countries and political divisions in each of the major
continental divisions have been grouped under the des-
ignation "Other Places". In the case of Europe, "Other
Places" include Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Azores,
Canary Islands, Dantzig, Esthonia, Faroe Islands, Fiume,
Georgia, Gibraltar, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxem-
burg, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, and Turke}r; and the fact
that official data were secured for nearly all of these
places in which there were any telephones at all is an
indication of the completeness of the figures. In the
preparation of the compilation, statistics on telephone
revenues and investment were secured; but as a result
of the inflated condition of many foreign currencies,
these statistics have little comparative significance and
consequently have not been published.

Comparative Telephone Development
of Countries

In point of the extent of telephone service relative
to population, the table on "Telephone Development of
the World, By Countries" shows that the United States,
with 12.4 telephones per 100 population on January 1,
1921, still leads all other countries by a substantial
margin. Moreover, it is significant that the countries
next in rank in telephone development — Canada with
9.8 telephones per 100 population and Denmark with

[48]

World's Telephone Statistics

7.7 — are countries in which private operation of telephone
service predominates.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORLD'S TELEPHONES
- January I. 1921 -

GERMANY-

GREAT BRITAIN-
FRANCE-

ALL OTHER

EUROPEAN

COUNTRIES

ALL OTHER

COUNTRIES

It °/0

UNITED STATES
C4%

TELEPHONES PER 100 POPULATION

— January I, 1921 ■—

0 2 4 6 8 10

UNITED STATES

CANADA

DENMARK

NEW ZEALAND

SWEDEN

NORWAY

AUSTRALIA

SWITZERLAND

GERMANY

NETHERLANDS

AUSTRIA

GREAT BRITAIN

ARGENTINE

FRANCE

BELGIUM

CHILE

CZECHO-SIDVAKIA

JAPAN

BRAZIL

ITALY

POLAND

MEXICO

SPAIN

CHINA

TOTAL WORLD

Telephones per 100 population

Europe as a whole has only 1.2 telephones per 100
population, a stage of development reached in the United

[49]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

States as early as 1900. Among the individual European
states, the highest number of telephones per 100 popula-

TELEPHONE DEVELOPMENT

IN UNITED STATES AND EUROPE

— 1877 to 1921 —

lb
14
12

10
8
6
4
2

U

111

EC

1 i

STATE

1 .

S

9

EUR

'■

=■

0

r- o> •- m ir> r~ o — comr-m — mmt^cn — m in r- o> •- mm

r-f^CD(DtCOD<Da)0)a)(7)0)C)oOOO — — - — — CJpJCNJ
<D0D<I>tD(D(D(i)lD(D0D(D(DO)O)CnO>C7><r)(J)Cr><,,O)Cnc)O)

January 1st of each year

TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS PER CAPITA
— 'Year 1920* —

O 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 60 90 100 110 120 130

40 1*0 160

0 to 20 30 40 50 60 70 BO 90 K)0 110 120 130 i40 150 160
Telephone conversatjons per capita

tion is found in the Scandinavian countries — Denmark
(7.7), Sweden (6.6) and Norway (5.0)— in all of which

[50]

World's Telephone Statistics

the service has been developed largely by private ini-
tiative, although in Sweden the Government has now
acquired most of the private systems. Despite the fact
that Germany has only 3.0 telephones per 100 popula-
tion, it ranks ahead of Great Britain with 2.1 and France
with 1.2. Italy has only 0.3 telephones for each 100
of its inhabitants, a figure which is equalled by Poland
and exceeded by Czecho-Slovakia.

In South America, the best developed country from
a telephone standpoint is Uruguay, which can boast of
1.5 telephones per 100 population, whereas Argentine
shows only 1.3. As is to be expected, Japan leads the
Asiatic states in telephone development; but with all
its progressiveness, Japan still has only 0.6 telephones
per 100 inhabitants. Africa is as barren telephonically
as is Asia. In Oceania, Australia (4.3) and New Zealand
(7.0) rank high as against those comparable European
countries in which telephone service has been controlled
by Governmental agencies, but their development is
low when compared with United States standards.

Changes Since 1914

The last column in the table on " Telephone Develop-
ment of the World, By Countries" shows the percentage
increase since January 1, 1914 in the number of telephones
in each country. These percentage increases should,
of course, be interpreted in the light of the absolute
number of telephones at the beginning of the period,
since those countries which had relatively few telephones
on January 1, 1914 naturally tend to show the largest
increases in terms of percentages. With this qualifica-
tion, however, the figures afford a good indication of
the progress that has taken place in the telephone world
during the \ears 1914-1920, inclusive.

In the United States, the number of telephones
increased by 40%, as compared with an increase of 32%
in Europe. In absolute numbers, the increase in the
United States was about 3,800,000 telephones, — a figure

[51]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

almost equal to the total number of telephones in use
in all Europe on January 1, 1914. Among the European
countries, telephone growth has been diversely affected
by war influences and by changes in territorial bound-
aries. In Austria and Hungary loss of territory sub-
stantially reduced the total number of telephones,
though telephones per 100 population have increased
in both countries because the lost territory was, as a
whole, the least developed. Of the new states created
as a result of the war, the largest number of telephones
(77,195) is in Czecho-Slovakia, though Poland with
72,450 telephones is not far behind. In the neutral
countries telephone growth has naturally been more
rapid than in the belligerent nations; indeed, in most
of the former countries the war gave an exceptional
stimulus to the extension of the service. Thus, in Den-
mark the number of telephones almost doubled during
the seven years covered by the table, while the increases
in The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Spain and Switzerland
were also relatively large. In Belgium, German invasion
and occupation seriously crippled the service; but the
recovery after the war was rapid and on January 1, 1921
there were almost as many telephones in use in Belgium
as in 1914. In France, Great Britain and Italy tele-
phone growth was practically halted during the war,
but substantial increases were recorded in the years
1919 and 1920; in the case of France, the increase was
augmented by the acquisition of Alsace-Lorraine and
the purchase of the telephone system of the American
Expeditionary Forces. In Germany the number of
telephones apparently increased slightly throughout most,
if not all, of the war period; and despite its territorial
losses the absolute gain in telephones during the seven
years 1914-1920 was greater in Germany than in any
other European'country.

In South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania a steady
extension of telephone service is indicated in almost
every country.

[52]

TELEPHONE DEVELOPMENT OF IMPORTANT CITIES, JANUARY 1, 1921

Estimated

n * a 0-* / /^- p°Pulation Number of Telephones

Country and City (or (City or Exchange Telephones per 100

Exchange Area) Area) Population

Australia:*

Melbourne 767,000 48 461 6 3

Sydney 899,000 58,594 65

Austria:

Vienna..." 1,842,000 98,000 53

Belgium:

Antwerp 502,000 10,028 2 0

Brussels 885,000 23,809 2 ' 7

Denmark :

Copenhagen 666,000 96,008 14 4

France:

Lyons 562,000 10,986 2 0

Marseilles 586,000 11,859 2 0

Paris 2,906,000 159,692 55

Germany:

Berlin 2,170,000 199,555 9 2

Cologne 634,000 35,514 66

Dresden 529,000 33,150 63

Hamburg-Altona 1,155,000 85,748 7 4

Leipzig 604,000 38,830 6 4

Munich 631,000 42,174 67

Great Britain:*

Birmingham 1,273,000 26,477 2 1

Dublin 387,000 11,213 29

Edinburgh 420,000 16,561 3 ' 9

Glasgow 1,260,000 43,263 3 4

Leeds 536,000 12,999 2 4

Liverpool 1,190,000 38,475 3 2

London 7,069,000 330,002 47

Manchester . 1,591,000 46,313 2.9

Hungary:

Budapest 926,000 24,205 2.6

Italy:

Milan 718,000 15,000* 2 1

Naples 780,000 6,800* 0 9

Rome 689,000 13,000* 1 9

Turin 517,000 7,500* 1.5

Japan :

Osaka 1,253,000 33,004 2 6

Tokio 2,173,000 64,564 3.0

Netherlands

Amsterdam 642,000 31,392 4 9

The Hague 353,000 22,393 6*3

Rotterdam 510,000 24,848 4.9

New Zealand:*

Auckland 158,000 9,791 6 2

Wellington : 107,000 10,375 9 . 7

Norway :f

Christiania 256,000 29,802 116

Bergen 97,000 6,970 7.2

Portugal :

Lisbon 820,000 9,939 1.2

Sweden:

Goteborg 202,000 23,778 118

Stockholm 376,000 1 18,180° 31 . 4°

SwiTiERLAND :

Berne 112,000 10,016 8 9

Geneva 136,000 13,714 10 1

Zurich 211,000 20,023 9.5

United States:

New York 5,708,000 892,198 15.6

Chicago 2,755,000 575,840 20.9

Total of the 30 cities in

U. S. with over 250,-

000 population 25,176,000 4,201,614 16.7

* Statistics as of March 31, 1921. t Statistics as of June 30. 1920. J Number of subscribers.

0 The greater p. it of this development was secured by a private company which was purchased
by the Government in 1918. On January 1, 1921 the process of merging the company's plant
with the Government's local system was not fully completed and the total number of tele-
phones still included a certain number of duplicates.

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Comparative Telephone Development Of Cities

Referring to the table on " Telephone Development
of Important Cities", the superiority of telephone devel-
opment in the United States is again clear. With the
exception of a few cities in the Scandinavian countries
and one city in Switzerland, none of the foreign cities
has a development as high as 10 telephones per 100
population, while the 30 United States cities with over
250,000 population show an average development of
16.7 telephones per 100 inhabitants. Indeed, several
American cities have as many telephones as there are
in the whole of such important European countries as
France or Italy. From an American standpoint, even
such metropolitan centers as London and Paris are
woefully under-developed. In the case of Stockholm,
for which a development of 31.4 telephones per 100
population is reported, the number of telephones includes
a certain number of duplicates and the development is
consequently overstated. Due to the energetic initiative
of the Stockholm Telephone Company, which operated
the greater part of local service in Stockholm up to 1918,
it is true that this city has attained a far higher telephone
development than any other foreign city; but it is prob-
able that if proper allowance were made for duplicate
telephones, Stockholm would be found to rank below
the highest developed cities in the United States.

In comparing the development of the cities shown in

this table with the development of the corresponding

countries as shown in the first table, a marked disparity

between the development of the cities and that of the

countries in which they are located will be noted in the

case of most of the foreign countries. This disparity

reflects the fact that in foreign countries telephone service

is confined principally to the cities. One-third of all

the telephones in France are in Paris; London also has

one-third of all the telephones in Great Britain. Except

in the United States and Canada, rural telephone service

is almost unknown. c T .

S. L. Andrew.

[54]

Abstracts of Recent Technical Papers
from Bell System Sources

Measurement of direct Capacities,1 by Dr. G. A. Camp-
bell. In distinction to "mutual capacity" and "ground-
ed capacity" the concept and measurement of "direct
capacity" is very useful to the telephone engineer, en-
abling him to control cross-talk and to determine more
completely how telephone circuits behave under all pos-
sible connections. The article describes typical methods
for measuring direct capacity, direct admittance and
direct impedance and indicates that the substitution
alternating current bridge method, devised some years
ago by Mr. E. H. Colpitts, Assistant Chief Engineer of
the Western Electric Company, is a very satisfactory
method.

Education and the Art of Electrical Communication, -
by E. B. Craft. On July 21, Mr. E. B. Craft, Chief
Engineer of the Western Electric Company, delivered
an address on the above subject from his office, to a
large gathering of teachers, assembled in the Lincoln
School of Teachers' College, New York City. The
address was carried over a telephone circuit and pro-
jected by the Bell loud-speaker in the manner which
has now become so familiar. Mr. Craft pointed out that
while the problems of the teachers are steadily becoming
more complex, it may be possible to adapt many of the
developments of present day science, including some of
those which the telephone engineers have originated, to
aid in the solution of teaching problems.

The speaker emphasized the great importance, to
those who are preparing for technical positions in the
industries, of broad fundamental training as well as a
super-structure of specialized training. To quote "There
is no part of education, from the primary school to the
highest training of the graduate school, in which we [the

'See Bell System Technical Journal — July 1922 — Page 18, and Journal of
the Optical Society of America and Review of Scientific Instruments — Aug., 1922.

issued in pamphlet form by the Western Electric Company.

[55]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Bell Telephone System] do not have a vital interest and
do not feel the effect of every improvement in educa-
tional methods."

Mr. Craft also outlined briefly the training courses
which the Western Electric Company has established
for those of its employees who must, for one reason or
another, close their academic training upon graduation
from high school. This course runs for three succes-
sive years, and in character and difficulty is entirely com-
parable to the courses offered by high-grade technical
schools.

The Frequency-Sensitivity of normal ears,1 by H.
Fletcher and R. L. Wegel. A large amount of work
has been done during the last fifty years in an endeavor
to determine the minimum amount of sound that the
human ear can perceive, but the results of different
investigators have varied throughout a wide range. It
is important for the proper engineering of the telephone
plant to know the sensitiveness of the ears of the average
telephone user. For this reason, the present investiga-
tion was undertaken. Apparatus is described for produc-
ing pure tones, ranging in frequency from 60 cycles to
6000 cycles, and in intensity from tones so faint as to
be inaudible, to tones which are so loud as to be painful
to the ear. Frequency-sensitivity curves have thus
far been obtained for approximately 100 normal and 20
abnormal ears. On the average, the minimum audible
pressure variation decreases regularly from about 0.15
dyne /cm2 at 60 cycles, to 0.001 dyne /cm2 at 1000 cycles,
and is then approximately constant up to at least 4000
cycles. Persons who require throughout the speech
range (600 to 4000 cycles) about 0.1 dynes /cm2 are called
slightly deaf; those requiring 1 dyne /cm2 can still follow
ordinary conversation; those requiring 10 dynes /cm2
belong to the class who may be benefitted by ear trumpets
or amplifiers. A pressure variation of approximately
1000 dynes /cm2 can be felt and produces a sensation
of pain.

'Physical Review— Vol. 19, p. 553, June, 1922.

[56]

Technical Papers

Static interference as a function of wave length,1 by H.
T. Friis and L. J. Sivian. The purpose of this note is
to comment upon a recent theoretical investigation by
M. Abraham of the relative immunity from atmospheric
disturbances in closed loop and open aerial forms of
receiving antennas, and upon a subsequent paper by L.
B. Turner on the ratio between signal intensity and
static intensity as a function of signal wave length. The
calculations in the latter paper are based on Abraham's
results which are believed to be an error by the present
authors. They arrive at results which indicate that
for any given range of signaling the optimum wave length
is the same for both loop and open antennas.

The Fire-fly as an illuminani,2 by Herbert E. Ives.
The purpose of this paper is to review the results of a
series of studies made some years ago on the physical
properties of the light emitted by the fire-fly. Much
interest has been bestowed upon the fire-fly's light because
it appears to be produced very efficiently and its secret,
when understood, may have great practical value. The
most important practical questions to be answered in
studying an illuminant are three: How much light does
it produce; how efficiently does it produce the light;
what is the quality of the light?

These questions the author considers in turn. He
finds that although the amount of light which the fire-
fly emits per unit area of its body is very small compared
to a flame or heated filament, it is sufficiently intense
to be entirely practicable for many illuminating pur-
poses. The efficiency of the fire-fly's light can only be
roughly estimated but appears to be ten or even twenty
times that of the best artificial illuminants. Spectrum
analysis of the light from the species Photinus Pyralis
revealed the fact that practically all the rays he in a
narrow region of the spectrum between the orange and
green. The fight, although it lies in that part of the
spectrum for which the human eye is most sensitive and

'Wireless World and Radio Review — June 3, 1922.

'Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 194, p. 213, August, 1922.

[57]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

would be very useful for making fine detail visible, would,
of course, not render true color values.

Critical Frequency Relations in Scotopic Vision,1 by
Herbert E. Ives. If the eye is fixed upon a source of
light before which a black revolving disc with openings
in it periodically intercepts the light, for low speeds the
revolution of the disc will be apparent as a "flickering"
of the light's source. At very rapid speeds, no flicker
will be apparent, the source of light appearing steady.
There will be an intermediate speed at which the flicker
just becomes apparent as the rotation of the disc is
decreased and just disappears as its rotation is increased.
The present paper is a study of certain phenomena of
vision which are encountered in working with such
flicker apparatus. The author shows that so long as
the intensity of the light source is large enough to give
color or "cone" vision, the critical speed at which flicker
just appears, or disappears diminishes steadily as the
intensity of the source of light is diminished. When the
intensity has been reduced to the point at which "cone"
vision disappears and only colorless or "rod" vision
remains, the critical speed remains constant although
the intensity of the light may be still very much reduced.

The relationship between critical speed and the shape,
or wave form of the intercepting segments of the rotat-
ing disc is also discussed and an empirical relation arrived
at.

The Voltage-Current relation in central anode Photo-
Ekctric cells, by Herbert E. Ives and Thornton C. Fry.
The paper supplies a theoretical discussion of the fact
noted by one of the authors that in the case of some
potassium cells, the voltage required to give the saturation
value of the photo-electric current increases as the
frequency of the light used to excite the emission is
raised. The results of the analysis agree as to order of
magnitude with observations to the effect that 40 volts
and 160 volts were required in a certain photo-electric

•Journal of the Optical Society of America and Review of Scientific Infltru"
ments— Vol. 6, p. 254-268, May, 1922.

[58]

Technical Papers

cell to give saturation for wave lengths 5500 A and 4500 A
respectively. This effect should be taken into considera-
tion whenever cells of the type specified are used to com-
pare the intensities of radiations of different spectral
distributions.

Philadelphia-Pittsburgh section of the New York-
Chicago Cable,1 by J. J. Pilliod. Engineering and con-
struction features involved in a complete telephone
cable system over 300 miles in length and connecting
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pa., are described in
this paper. The cable is designed to operate as an
extension of the Boston- Washington under-ground cable
system with which it connects at Philadelphia. It is
also designed for operation in connection with the Pitts-
burgh-Chicago cable now under construction, and other
cable projects included in a comprehensive fundamental
plan.

Beginning with the fundamental factor of public
requirements for communication service between cities
separated by various distances, there are next considered
the methods available to provide this service. Small-
gage, quadded, aerial cable, which was decided upon
for use in this section after careful economic studies, is
described in a general way and the important advan-
tages of the application of loading and telephone repeaters
are outlined. The use, in connection with this cable,
of the recently developed metallic telegraph system for
cables is referred to and some facts are given regarding
power plants, test boards and buildings. A few of the
many possible combinations of cable and equipment
facilities into complete telephone circuits, each of which
will furnish the required service in the most economical
manner are illustrated.

The necessity of complete coordination of the many
factors involved in a project of this kind is emphasized.

The relation of the Petersen System of Grounding Power
networks to inductive effects in neighboring Communication

»See Bell System Tech. Journal, July 1922, and Journal of the A. I. E. E.
August 1922.

[59]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Circuits,1 by H. M. Trueblood. This paper discusses,
with reference particularly to its inductive interference
aspects, a method of grounding power system neutrals
due to W. Petersen, a German engineer. The distinctive
feature of this system is the employment in the con-
nection between neutral and ground, of an inductance
adjusted to resonate at fundamental frequency with
the total direct capacity of the system to ground. It
is pointed out that this arrangement, proposed originally
solely as a means of protecting the power sj^stem from
the effects of accidental grounds, also possesses advan-
tages of considerable importance from the standpoint
of inductive interference. Chief among these are, first,
the prevention of the large residual currents of funda-
mental frequency which occur in systems grounded
through zero or a low impedance at times of accidental
grounds, and which may induce high voltages in exposed
circuits; and, second, the prevention, under normal oper-
ating conditions of triple harmonic residual voltages and
currents which are frequently a troublesome source of
noise in telephone circuits exposed to power circuits
grounded in the manner common in this country. The
paper also explains the characteristic action of the res-
onant system, by virtue of which the reactance coil func-
tions as a protective device for the power system at times
of accidental faults, and discusses the possibility of over-
voltages at times of fault. A comparison in some detail
of the Petersen system with other methods of grounding
(including the non-grounded system), with respect both
to fundamental and harmonic frequencies, is given.

The sensitivity and precision of the Electrostatic Trans-
mitter for measuring sound intensities,2 by E. C. Wente.
The transmitter described is the same in principle as
that described by the author in 1917 and now generally
known, but certain changes have been made which render
its sensitivity independent of changes in temperature,

'Bell System Technical Journal, July 1922; also Contribution from the
Jefferson Physical Laboratory, Harvard University — Vol. 15, 1921-22.

2See Physical Review— Vol. 19, p. 498, May, 1922.

[60]

Technical Papers

pressure and humidity. The sensitivity is also constant
over long periods of time. Combined with an amplifier
of ordinary design the transmitter has an overall sen-
sitivity which is practically uniform from 25 to 8000
cycles. The apparatus can also be made highly selective
and almost any desired sensitivity can be obtained by
using a tuned amplifier in connection with a vibration
galvanometer. The average sensitivity of the trans-
mitter alone is about 0.35 millivolts per dyne per square
centimeter.

A new type of High Power Vacuum Tube,1 by Dr. W.
Wilson. This paper describes two remarkably powerful
water-cooled vacuum tubes which have been developed
in the Bell System Research Laboratory. The small
tube is capable of delivering about 10 kilowatts of high
frequency energy and the larger tube, although less than
three feet in length and weighing only ten pounds, is
capable of generating 100 kilowatts. The principle of
operation of the water-cooled tube is identical, from an
electrical point of view, with that of the small tubes which
are now so familiar as telephone repeaters and radio
detectors, but their practicability has only been made
possible by a new and striking development in the art
of sealing metal to glass. To Mr. W. G. Houskeeper,
of the Bell Laboratory, goes the credit for the develop-
ment of the type of vacuum seals which are utilized in
the new tubes.

JSee Bell System Technical Journal— July 1922— Page 4.

[61]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

Notes on Recent Occurrences

DEATH OF DR. ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL

AMONG the most impressive of the tributes to the
. memory of Alexander Graham Bell, who died on
August 2, was that of the telephone system which bears
his name.

As the body of the inventor was being laid at rest
on the summit of Beinn Breagh, near his summer home
at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, on August 4, service was sus-
pended for one minute on all lines of the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company and its associated com-
panies, both in the United States and Canada. There
could be no more striking illustration of the importance
of Bell's invention, or a more fitting testimonial to the
regard in which his name is held by those who are carry-
ing on the public service which he began, than that, in
honor of the genius who first gave voice to the telephone,
nearly 14,000,000 instruments — which trace their lineage
to his first, crude device — should become momentarily
silent.

Immediately upon receipt of the news of Dr. Bell's
death H. B. Thayer, president of the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company sent the following tele-
gram to Mrs. Bell:

"In behalf of all the men and women of the telephone sys-
tem which bears his name, I extend our deepest sympathy and
express our grief in the passing of Dr. Bell. History will record
the inestimable value of his services to mankind, but we who
are carrying on in the telephone art founded on his great dis-
covery are peculiarly appreciative of his genius."

To this message Mrs. Bell replied:

"Thank the men and women of the Bell Telephone Sys-
tem for their message of sympathy. The consideration and
affection they have always shown him whenever occasion offered
has always touched me deeply and is my comfort now."

Simultaneously with the sending of President Thayer's
message it was directed that flags on all buildings through-

[62]

Notes on Recent Occurrences

out the system should be flown at half-mast until after
the funeral services.

Memorial resolutions were passed by the Directors
of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company at
a meeting held on August 15. Quite fittingly this tribute
is recorded as coming, not merely from the Bell System
as an organization, but on behalf of the hundreds of
thousands of telephone workers of the world.

The resolutions follow:

"In the death of Alexander Graham Bell the civilized world
mourns for a man who thought fearlessly, worked tirelessly and
served generously to relieve the unfortunate and to benefit
humanity.

"He was the inventor of the telephone because his thoughts
adventured into new and untried Gelds of science, because his
enthusiasm for discovery was sufficient to overcome all dif-
ficulties, because his practical mind demanded a consummation
of his theories in practical results, and because he was inspired to
contribute greatly to the common good.

"As an investigator he was intelligent beyond the genius
of his age. In the invention of the telephone he founded the
art of transmitting speech electrically, a new and invaluable
contribution to the humanizing of mankind.

"He was one of the few in history who lived to see the child
of his brain developed into a world-wide service. This was
the only reward he sought and this reward was fully his.

" Whereas, this company was founded upon and is devoted
to the development of his invention for the service of humanity,
it seems proper that we, the directors of the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company, for ourselves and in behalf of
the men and women of the Bell System, should spread upon
our records our recognition of the debt owed to Alexander
Graham Bell by the hundreds of thousands of telephone workers
of the world for the opportunity for service which his invention
made possible."

NINTH MEETING OF THE TELEPHONE
PIONEERS OF AMERICA

THE ninth meeting of the Telephone Pioneers of
America was held at Cleveland, Ohio, on Septem-
ber 29 and 30, 1922. Sixty delegates, representing
nineteen chapters, and ten of the twelve officers attended
the sessions of the General Assembly. Members of the

[63]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

association and their relatives brought the total atten-
dance up to 1200.

The organization has more than doubled its mem-
bership since the last meeting, the report of the secretary
showing that since January 1, 1921, the enrollment has
grown from 1742 to 4276, a net gain of 2534. The
adoption, a year ago, of a new form of organization
under which local chapters have been instituted in
various sections of the country, has tended to increase
interest in the work of the Pioneers. Twenty-one years
of service in the telephone business is one of the require-
ments of membership.

The General Assembly which, under a constitutional
amendment also passed a year ago, is the legislative
body of the organization, adopted several important
changes in the by-laws and elected officers for the coming
year as follows: President, Leonard H. Kinnard,
President of the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsyl-
vania; Senior Vice-President, F. A. Stevenson, Director
of the Long Lines Department, American Telephone and
Telegraph Company; Vice-Presidents, James T. Moran,
President of the Southern New England Telephone Com-
pany; J. A. Stewart, Vice-President of the New York
Telephone Company, E. A. Reed, President of the Ohio
Bell Telephone Company. The secretary and the
treasurer are appointed by the executive committee.

Members elected to the Executive Committee for
one year were B. A. Kaiser, American Telephone and
Telegraph Company, and J. E. Warren, Southern Bell
Telephone Company, while Verne Ray, Illinois Bell
Telephone Company; Miss Mary Miller, Bell Telephone
Company of Pennsylvania, and E. K. Hall, Vice-Presi-
dent of the American Telephone and Telegraph Com-
pany, were elected for two-year terms.

At the annual meeting of the association John J.
Carty, the retiring president, made an address in which
he paid an eloquent tribute to Dr. Alexander Graham
Bell, inventor of the telephone. This address appears
in full elsewhere in this issue of the Quarterly. The

[64]

Notes on Recent Occurrences

association also took suitable action in memory of Dr.
Bell.

One of the features of the gathering of the Pioneers
was a meeting in the new Municipal Auditorium, at
which a crowd of about 15,000 listened to a demonstra-
tion of the loud speaker, with "roll calls" of the repeater
stations along the line between San Francisco and
Havana, Cuba. Musical programs were presented at
each end of the line. Newton D. Baker, former Secretary
of War, and Mayor Fred H. Kohler of Cleveland addressed
the audience.

An informal get-together dance, an outing at the
Cleveland Yacht Club, at which the Pioneers were
the luncheon guests of the Western Electric Company,
and a delightful entertainment by employees of the
Ohio Bell Telephone Company were other attractions.
The banquet, an annual event at which the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company acts as host to
the Pioneers and their guests, was held at the Masonic
Temple. General Carty presided and addresses were
made by President H. B. Thayer of the A. T. & T. Co.
and L. H. Kinnard, President-elect of the Pioneers
organization.

DR. BELL'S APPRECIATION OF THE
TELEPHONE SERVICE

AT the meeting of the Telephone Pioneers, the Presi-
xjL dent, John J. Carty, read this letter from Mrs.
Alexander Graham Bell, which shows that there is no
foundation for the published rumor of Dr. Bell's dislike
for the telephone.

"Beinn Bhreagh, near Baddeck, N. S.
"Dear Mr. Carty:

"I am beginning to get distressed over the many
statements the papers have been publishing of Mr. Bell's
dislike of the telephone.

"Of course, he never had one in his study. That was
where he went when he wanted to be alone with his

[65]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

thoughts and his work. The telephone, of course, mea
intrusion by the outside world.

"And the little difficulties and delays often attendi
the establishment of conversation in even well manag
telephone circuits did irritate him, so that as a rule
preferred having others send and receive messages. B
all really important business over the telephone he trai
acted himself.

"There are few private houses more complete
equipped with telephones than ours at 1331 Connectic
Avenue, and there was nothing that Mr. Bell was mc
particular about than our telephone service here. I
nearly all of the thirty-five odd years we have been h(
he saw personally to its proper working. We ne\
could have come here in the first place or continued he
but for the telephone which kept us in close touch w
doctors and neighbors and the regular telegraph office.

"He saw to it that we should be able to reach that
any time, day or night. It was owing to this telephc
system that we were able to come and stay up here 1;
summer. Our physician fives sixty miles away in Sydn<

"I, myself, called him up at half-past five A.M. tl
last day; he answered immediately, and all through tl
day the telephone served Mr. Bell faithfully and w<
bringing to him first one then another whom he call
for. Afterwards the telegrams from all over came poi
ing in day and night — telephoned over without delay
mistake.

"It even accomplished what seemed almost impos
ble — the reaching of Mr. Charles Bell at Megantic Can
Maine.

"There were relays, of course, but it was done
telephone — not from one big city to another — but fr<
one isolated country station to another — from Cans
to the United States.

"Mr. Bell did like to say in fun, 'Why did I e^
invent the Telephone/ but no one had a higher apprec
tion of its indispensableness or used it more freely wr
need was — either personally or by deputy — and he v

[66]

Notes on Recent Occurrences

really tremendously proud of it and all it was accom-
plishing. He appreciated the honor of being first to talk
from New York to San Francisco, was awed by the
wonder of its performance at that dinner at the New
Willard, followed with interest its usefulness during the
war, and the development shown at Arlington last autumn.

"Mr. Bell's one regret about the telephone was that
his wife could not use it or follow his early work in sound.

"I honestly believe this had much to do with his not
going on with the photophone experiments and engaging
instead in aerial work the progress of which I could see
as well as he.

"I shall always be so thankful that the telephone
worked so well that last day— serving its father so loyally.

" Yours very sincerely,

"Mabel G. Bell.
"August 24, 1922."

PREFERRED STOCK ISSUE OF THE NEW
YORK TELEPHONE COMPANY

THE New York Telephone Company recently offered
$25,000,000 worth of its preferred stock to its
subscribers. The subscription was open only one day.
The amount offered was $82,500,000 and the applicants
numbered 107,754.

Like similar issues offered during the past year by
other Associated Companies of the Bell System, this
issue was a preferred, cumulative stock, offered at par.
Applicants were given the option of paying for their
allotment in full or in monthly payments of $5 or mul-
tiples thereof, with interest at six per cent on install-
ments as paid. The dividend rate on the issue is six
and one half per cent.

A majority of the applicants elected the partial pay-
ment option and applications for small allotments pre-
dominated. Under the single payment option, there
were 41,648 applications for a total of 470,268 shares.

[67]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

The applications under the partial payment plan totaled
66,106 for 326,447 shares.

Applications for ten shares or less constituted over
70 per cent of those received, while over 60 per cent were
for five shares or less. There were 22,124 applications
for one share, 17,737 for two shares, 5,483 for three shares,
2,290 for four shares and 15,514 for five shares. The
applications for from six to ten shares totaled 12,630,
representing $12,091,500 and the applications from eleven
to nineteen shares numbered 1,379 and represented
$1,996,700. Applications for the maximum number of
twenty shares numbered 24,609 and represented a par
value of $49,218,000.

The allotment basis was:

1 to 2 shares inclusive 1 share

3 to 8 shares inclusive 2 shares

9 to 15 shares inclusive 3 shares

16 to 19 shares inclusive 4 shares

19 to 20 shares, inclusive 5 shares

Realizing that subscribers might be disappointed
because of the cutting down of allotments and might
wish to obtain stock for investment purposes, it was
arranged to offer to them a number of shares of the stock
of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company
sufficient to enable each one to bring the total number
of his shares up to the number he originally applied for.
This stock was offered at the prevailing market price,
to be paid for outright or in installments, as provided
in the case of the original offer. Approximately 60,000
shares of the A. T. & T. Co. stock were applied for under
this offer by over 9,500 persons.

NEW ISSUE OF AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND
TELEGRAPH COMPANY STOCK

IN order to provide plant to meet existing and ex-
pected demands for service, the Directors of the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company on August

[68]

Notes on Recent Occurrences

24 offered to holders of record as of September 8, 1922,
an issue of new common stock, on the basis of one share
of new for each five shares outstanding. Upon this
basis the amount to be offered will be approximately
$115,000,000.

The purpose of the issue and the circumstances which
prompted the decision of the Directors to offer it were
explained in a statement of President H. B. Thayer which
accompanied its announcement. He pointed out that
the demand for telephone service shows no abatement,
that the growth of the business provided an opportunity
for the investment of additional funds, and that any
further issue of stock was improbable for a considerable
period to come.

Mr. Thayer said:

"During the past two years of adverse business conditions
the demand for telephone service has shown no abatement.
During that periond there have been a million telephones added
to the Bell System and there are now on file unfilled applications
for about 200,000 telephones.

"This continuing expansion of the telephone business re-
quires additional plants and, in view of the prospects of better
general business, even greater than normal growth is expected.

"By a substantial issue of stock at this time the growth of
the business for a considerable period to come will be provided
for without further stock offering to stockholders.

"The company is in funds to meet the balance now out-
standing of its $50,000,000 note issue, due October 1, 1922,
and the funds from the stock issue will provide for extension of
the National telephone system."

In business and financial circles unusual interest was
evinced in the company's announcement as indicative
of the national business trend and it inspired much com-
ment on the remarkable development of the telephone
business and the soundness of telephone securities by
reason of this development.

The privilege of subscribing for the new issue is
evidenced by warrants for full shares or fractional shares,
which have been mailed to stockholders of record as of
September 8. Certificates of the new stock will be issued
only upon warrants calling for full shares, but combina-

[69]

Bell Telephone Quarterly

tions of rights for fractional shares may be made by
their purchase and sale. The rights evidenced by the
warrants may be transferred by assignment.

Payment for the shares subscribed for is to be made
in three installments of $20, $40, and $40, on November
1, 1922, March 1, 1923 and July 2, 1923, interest at the
rate of six per cent per annum on the respective pay-
ments from their due dates being allowed. The full
amount may be paid on November 1, 1922 or March 1,
1923, with adjustments as to dividends and interest.

The subscription privilege closes on November 1,
1922.

EXPERIMENTAL BROADCASTING STATION
NEW YORK CITY

IT was announced in the July number of the Quarterly
that a license would probably be issued shortly for
the new broadcasting station at 24 Walker Street, New
York City. This license became effective July 25th and
as expected permitted the station to operate during
certain daylight hours and on Thursday evenings. This
restricted time schedule was made necessary by the fact
that the United States Department of Commerce was
not ready at that time to issue a broadcasting license
for other than 360 meters.

On October 2nd the original license was superseded
by one granting permission to broadcast on 400 meters.
As a result, a new time schedule has gone into effect
assigning the afternoon hour from 4:30 to 5:30 every
week-day and the evenings from 8 to 10 on Monday,
Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Beginning July 25th when the first license was issued,
steps were taken to interest prospective users of these
broadcasting facilities. The results obtained up to
October 2nd were very encouraging but it was apparent
that a license to operate only one night a week con-
stituted a very real handicap to the building up of busi-
ness. The new time schedule with permission to use

[70]

Notes on Recent Occurrences

a wave length of 400 meters has materially improved
this situation. With a desirable hour every afternoon
and four evenings a week every effort will be made to
popularize this new radio service, and it is expected that
in the near future evidence will be at hand indicating
how extensively it will be used by the public.

[71]

1111

%

v tfS

BELL TELEPHONE QUARTERLY

VOLUME I, 1922
INDEX

Abbott, W. R., President, Illinois Bell Telephone Company April, p. 63

Abstracts of Recent Technical Papers from Bell System Sources: . .October, p. 55

Measurement of Direct Capacities, by Dr. G. A. Campbell p. 51

Education and the Art of Electrical Communication, by E. B. Craft, .p. 55
The Frequency-Sensitivity of Normal Ears, by H. Fletcher and R. L.

Wegel P- 56

Static Interference as a Function of Wave Length, by H. T. Friis and

L. J. Sivian p. 57

The Fire-fly as an Illuminant, by Herbert E. T\ es p. 57

Critical Frequency Relations in Scotopic Vision, by Herbert E. Ives. . p. 58
The Voltage-Current Relation in Central Anode Photo-Electric Cells,

by Herbert E. Ives and Thronton C. Fry p. 58

Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Section of the New York-Chicago Cable, by

J. J. Pilliod p. 59

The Relation of the Petersen System of Grounding Power Networks to
Inductive Effects in Neighboring Communication Circuits, by H. M.

Trueblood p. 59

The Sensitivity and Precision of the Electrostatic Transmitter for

Measuring Sound Intensities, by E. C. Wente p. 60

A New Type of High Power Vacuum Tube, by Dr. W. Wilson p. 61

American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Annual Meeting of. .April, p. 62
American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Organization Changes

April, p. 63
American Telephone and Telegraph Company Stock, New Issue of

October, p. 68
Analysis of the Energy Distribution in Speech, by I. B. Crandall and D.

MacKenzie, Note on July, p. 51

Andrews, S. L.: Planning a Big Business Ahead, Note on July, p. 53

Andrew, S. L.: Some Notes on Statistics April, p. 38

Andrews, S. L.: The Recent Parliamentary Investigation of the Telephone

Situation in Great Britain July, p. 23

Andrew, S. L.: World's Telephone Statistics October, p. 45

Annual Convention of National Chamber of Commerce July, p. 57

Annual Convention of National Electric Light Association, The July, p. 56

Annual Meeting, American Telephone and Telegraph Company. . . .April, p. 62

Barnard, C. I.: Business Principles in Organization Practice July, p. 44

Bell, Alexander Graham, Death of October, p. 62

Bell, J. H.: Composite Telegraphy and Telephony, Note on July, p. 52

Bell System Technical Journal, The July, p. 63

Bell Telephone Securities Company, The Work of the, by D. F. Houston

April, p. 13
Blackwell, O. B.: Notes on Radio October, p. 12

1

BELL TELEPHONE QUARTERLY INDEX, VOLUME I

Bloom, Edgar S., Vice President, American Telephone and Telegraph Co.

April, p. 63

Broadcasting Station, Experimental, New York City July, p. 60

Broadcasting Station, Experimental, New York City October, p. 70

Business Principles in Organization Practice, by C. I. Barnard July, p. 44

Campbell, Dr. G. A. : Measurement of Direct Capacities, Note on

October, p. 55
Carty, John J.: Address at the Civic Forum, Philadelphia, March 8, 1922

April, p. 57

Carty, J. J.: Ideals of the Telephone Service October, p. 1

Carty, John J.: The Telephone's Development April, p. 23

Central Anode Photo-Electric Cells, The Voltage-Current Relation in, by

Herbert E. Ives and Thornton C. Fry, Note on October, p. 58

Charlesworth, H. P.: Progress in Cooperation with the National Electric

Light Association July, p. 49

Composite Telegraphy and Telephony, by J. H. Bell, Note on July, p. 52

Conference of Personnel Group, by Bancroft Gherardi July, p. 39

Craft, E. B.: Education and the Art of Electrical Communication, Note on

October, p. 55
Crandall, I. B. and D. MacKenzie: Analysis of the Energy Distribution in

Speech, Note on July, p. 51

Critical Frequency Relations in Scotopic Vision, by Herbert E. Ives,

Note on October, p. 58

Crunden, Allen B. : Sleet Storms July, p. 14

Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Company, Organization Changes

April, p. 64

Death of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell October, p. 62

Dedication of the Lincoln Memorial July, p. 58

Direct Capacities, Measurement of, by Dr. G. A. Campbell, Note on

October, p. 55
Dr. Bell's Appreciation of the Telephone Service October, p. 65

Ear, The Relative Sensitivity of the, at Different Levels of Loudness, by

D. MacKenzie, Note on July, p. 52

Ears, The Frequency-Sensitivity of Normal, by H. Fletcher and R. L.

Wegel, Note on October, p. 56

Education and the Art of Electrical Communication, by E. B. Craft,

Note on October, p. 55

Electrical Communication, Education and the Art of, by E. B. Craft,
Note on October, p. 55

Electrostatic Transmitter for Measuring Sound Intensities, The Sensitiv-
ity and Precision of the, by E. C. Wente, Note on October, p. 60

Energy Distribution in Speech, Analysis of the, by I. B. Crandall and

D. MacKenzie, Note on July, p. 51

Executive Work, Some Thoughts on Organization and, by W. S. Gifford

July, p. 5

Experimental Broadcasting Station, New York City July, p. 60

Experimental Broadcasting Station, New York City October, p. 70

Fire-fly as an Illuminant, The, by Herbert E. Ives, Note on October, p. 57

First Aid Contests, The Loud Speaker at July, p. 69

2

BELL TELEPHONE QUARTERLY INDEX, VOLUME I

Fletcher, Harvey : The Nature of Speech and Its'Interpretation, Note on

July, p. 51
Fletcher, H., and R. L. Wegel: The Frequency-Sensitivity of Normal Ears,

Note on October, p. 56

Foreword, by H. B. Thayer April, p. 1

Frequency-Sensitivity of Normal Ears, The, by H. Fletcher and R. L.

Wegel, Note on October, p. 56

Friis, H. T. and L. J. Sivian: Static Interference as a Function of Wave

Length, Note on October, p. 57

Fry, Thornton C. and Herbert E. Ives: The Voltage-Current Relation in

Central Anode Photo-Electric Cells, Note on October, p. 58

General Carty's Address at the Civic Forum, Philadelphia, March 8, 1922

April, p. 57

Gherardi, Bancroft: Conference of Personnel Group July, p. 39

Gherardi, Bancroft: Progress of the Joint Committee on Relations of

Supply and Signal Circuits April, p. 38

Gifford, W. S., Address at Boston, March 9, 1922 April, p. 59

Gifford, W. S.: Some Thoughts on Organization and Executive Work

July, p. 5

Grant Centennial, The July, p. 57

Great Britain, The Recent Parliamentary Investigation of the Telephone

Situation in, by S. L. Andrew July, p. 23

Griswold, A. H.: The Radio Telephone Situation April, p. 2

Grounding Power Networks to Inductive Effects in Neighboring Com-
munication Circuits, The Relation of the Petersen System of, by H. M.
Trueblood, Note on October, p. 59

Hale, F. O., Vice President and General Manager, Illinois Bell Telephone

Company April, p. 64

Hearing, The Physical Examination of, and Binaural Aids for the Deaf,

by R. L. Wegel, Note on July, p. 51

Houston, D. F.: The Work of the Bell Telephone Securities Company

April, p. 13

Ideals of the Telephone Service, by J. J. Carty October, p. 1

Illinois Bell Telephone Company, Organization Changes April, p. 63

Ives, Herbert E.: Critical Frequency Relations in Scotopic Vision, Note on

October, p. 58

Ives, Herbert E.: The Fire-fly as an Illuminant, Note on October, p. 57

Ives, Herbert E. and Thronton C. Fry: The Voltage-Current Relation in

Central Anode Photo-Electric Cells, Note on October, p. 58

Jewett, F. B.: Loud Speaker Developments, Note on July, p. 52

Jewett, Frank B., Vice President, Western Electric Company April, p. 64

Lincoln Memorial, Dedication of the July, p. 58

Loud Speaker at First Aid Contests, The July, p. 59

Loud Speaker Demonstrations of the Bell Telephone Company of Penn-
sylvania July, p. 58

Loud Speaker Developments, by F. B. Jewett, Note on July, p. 52

MacKenzie, D.: The Relative Sensitivity of the Ear at Different Levels of
Loudness, Note on July, p. 52

BELL TELEPHONE QUARTERLY INDEX, VOLUME I

MacKenzie, D. and I. B. Crandall: Analysis of the Energy Distribution

in Speech, Note on July, p. 51

McGovern, W. R., President, Wisconsin Telephone Company April, p. 64

Measurement of Direct Capacities, by Dr. G. A. Campbell, Note on

October, p. 55

National Chamber of Commerce, Annual Convention of July, p. 57

National Electric Light Association, Annual Convention of July, p. 56

National Electric Light Association, Progress in Cooperation with, by

H. P. Charlesworth July, p. 49

Nature of Speech and Its Interpretation, The, by Harvey Fletcher, Note on

July, p. 51
New Issue of American Telephone and Telegraph Company Stock . October, p. 68

New Radio Law and Radio Regulations July, p. 60

New Type of High Power Vacuum Tube, A, by Dr. W. Wilson, Note on

October, p. 61
New York-Chicago Cable, Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Section of the, by

J. J. Pilliod, Note on October, p. 59

New York Telephone Company, Organization Changes April, p. 63

New York Telephone Company, Preferred Stock Issue of the. . . .October, p. 67

Ninth Meeting of the Telephone Pioneers of America October, p. 63

Notes on Radio, by O. B. Blaekwell October, p. 12

Notes on Recent Occurrences April, p. 55

Ship to Shore Radio Telephone Test, March 5, 1922 p. 55

General Carty's Address at the Civic Forum, Philadelphia, March 8,

1922 p. 57

Mr. Gifford's Address at Boston, March 9, 1922 p. 59

Patent Suit of General Squier p. 60

Annual Meeting of American Telephone and Telegraph Company, The p. 62

Notes on Recent Occurrences July, p. 54

The Ship to Shore Radio Demonstration at Harrisburg, April 6 p. 54

Annual Convention of the National Electric Light Association,

May 16 p. 56

The Grant Centennial, April 27 p. 57

Annual Convention of the National Chamber of Commerce, May 16 . p. 57

Dedication of the Lincoln Memorial, May 30 p. 58

Loud Speaker Demonstrations by the Bell Telephone Company of

Pennsylvania, April 2S-29 p. 58

The Loud Speaker at First Aid Contests p. 59

New Radio Law and Radio Regulations p. 60

Experimental Broadcasting Station, New York City p. 60

Subscriber Ownership in Wisconsin p. 61

The Bell System Technical Journal p. 63

Theo. N. Vail Honored by Old Time Telegraphers p. 64

Notes on Recent Occurrences October, p. 62

Death of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, August 2, 1922 p. 62

Ninth Meeting of the Telephone Pioneers of America, September 19

and 30, 1922 p. 63

Dr. Bell's Appreciation of the Telephone Service p. 65

Preferred Stock Issue of the New York Telephone Company p. 67

New Issue of American Telephone and Telegraph Company Stock . . p. 68
Experimental Broadcasting Station, New York City p. 70

4

BELL TELEPHONE QUARTERLY INDEX, VOLUME I

Organization and Executive Work, Some Thoughts on, by W. S. Gifford

July, p. 5

Organization Changes April, p. 63

American Telephone and Telegraph Company p. 63

New York Telephone Company p. 63

Illinois Bell Telephone Company p. 63

Southern Bell and Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Companies p. 64

Wisconsin Telephone Company p. 64

Western Electric Company p. 64

Organization Practice, Business Principles in, by C. I. Barnard July, p. 44

Patent Suit of Gen. Squier April, p. 60

Pennsylvania, Loud Speaker Demonstrations of the Bell Telephone

Company of July, p. 58

Personnel Group, Conference of, by Bancroft Gherardi July, p. 39

Petersen System of Grounding Power Networks, The Relation of the, to
Inductive Effects in Neighboring Communication Circuits, by H. M.

Trueblood, Note on October, p. 59

Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Section of the New York-Chicago Cable, by J. J.

Pilliod, Note on October, p. 59

Photo-Electric Cells, The Voltage-Current Relation in Central Anode, by

Herbert E. Ives and Thornton C. Fry, Note on October, p. 58

Physical Examination of Hearing and Bianural Aids for the Deaf, The,

by R. L. Wegel, Note on July, p. 51

Pilliod, J. J.: Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Section of the New York-Chicago

Cable, Note on October, p. 59

Planning a Big Business Ahead, by S. L. Andrew, Note on July, p. 53

Poles, by F. L. Rhodes October, p. 34

Preferred Stock Issue of the New York Telephone Company October, p. 67

Presidents of Bell System in Conference at Yama Farms, June, 1922 (Il-
lustration) July, opp. p. 1

Progress in Cooperation with the National Electric Light Association, by

H. P. Charlesworth July, p. 49

Progress of the Joint Committee on Relations of Supply and Signal Cir-

duits, by Bancroft Gherardi April, p. 38

Public Service Commission, New York, Testimony of John J. Carty,

The Telephone's Development April, p. 23

Radio, Notes on, by O. B. Blackwell October, p. 12

Radio Demonstration at Harrisburg, The Ship to Shore July, p. 54

Radio Law and Radio Regulations, New July, p. 60

Radio Telephone Situation, The, by A. H. Griswold April, p. 2

Radio Telephone Test, Ship to Shore, March 5, 1922 April, p. 55

Recent Parliamentary Investigation of the Telephone Situation in Great

Britain, The, by S. L. Andrew July, p. 23

Reid, Frederick H., Vice President, Southern Bell and Cumberland Tele-
phone and Telegraph Companies April, p. 64

Relation of the Petersen System of Grounding Power Networks to Induc-
tive Effects in Neighboring Communication Circuits, The, by H. M.

Trueblood, Note on October, p. 59

Relative Sensitivity of the Ear at Different Levels of Loudness, The, by

D. MacKenzie, Note on July, p. 52

Rhodes, F. L. : Poles October, p. 34

5

BELL TELEPHONE QUARTERLY INDEX, VOLUME I

Scotopic Vision, Critical Frequency Relations in, by Herbert E. Ives,

Note on October, p. 58

Sensitivity and Precision of the Electrostatic Transmitter for Measuring

Sound Intensities, The, by E. C. Wente, Xote on October, p. 60

Service, Ideals of the Telephone, by J. J. Carty October, p. 1

Service in the Making, by K. W. Waterson October, p. 26

Ship to Shore Radio Demonstration at Harrisburg, The July, p. 54

Ship to Shore Radio Telephone Test, March 5, 1922 April, p. 55

Sivian, L. J. and H. T. Friis: Static Interference as a Function of Wave

Length, Note on October, p. 57

Sleet Storms, by Allen B. Crunden July, p. 14

Some Notes on Statistics, by S. L. Andrew April, p. 38

Some Thoughts on Organization and Executive Work, by W. S. Gifford

July, p. 5
Sound Intensities, The Sensitivity and Precision of the Electrostatic

Transmitter for Measuring, by E. C. Wente, Note on October, p. 60

Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company, Organization Changes

April, p. 64

Squier, George O., Patent Suit of April, p. 60

Static Interference as a Function of Wave Length, by H. T. Friis and L. J.

Sivian, Note on October, p. 57

Statistics, Some Notes on, by S. L. Andrew April, p. 38

Statistics, World's Telephone, by S. L. Andrew October, p. 45

Subscriber Ownership in Wisconsin July, p. 61

Supply and Signal Circuits, Progress of the Joint Committee on Relations

of, by Bancroft Gherardi April, p. 38

Technical Papers from Bell System Sources, Abstracts of Recent . October, p, 55

Measurement of Direct Capacities, by Dr. G. A. Campbell p. 55

Education and the Art of Electrical Communication, by E. B. Craft . . p. 55
The Frequency-Sensitivity of Normal Ears, by H. Fletcher and R. L.

Wegel p. 56

Static Interference as a Function of Wave Length, by H. T. Friis and

L. J. Sivian p. 57

The Fire-fly as an Illuminant, by Herbert E. Ives p. 57

Critical Frequency Relations in Scotopic Vision, by Herbert E. Ives. . p. 58
The Voltage-Current Relation in Central Anode Photo-Electric

Cells, by Herbert E. Ives and Thornton C. Fry p. 58

Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Section of the New York-Chicago Cable, by

J. J. Pilliod p. 59

The Relation of the Petersen System of Grounding Power Networks to

Inductive Effects in Neighboring Communication Circuits, by

H. M. Trueblood p. 59

The Sensitivity and Precision of the Electrostatic Transmitter for

Measuring Sound Intensities, by E. C. Wente p. 60

A New Type of High Power Vacuum Tube, by Dr. W. Wilson p. 61

Technical Papers Published During Quarter July, p. 51

Analysis of the Energy Distribution in Speech, by I. B. Crandall

and D. MacKenzie p. 51

The Nature of Speech and Its Interpretation, by Harvey Fletcher. . . p. 51
The Physical Examination of Hearing and Binaural Aids for the Deaf,

by R. L. Wegel p. 51

6

BELL TELEPHONE QUARTERLY INDEX, VOLUME I

The Relative Sensitivity of the Ear at Different Levels of Loudness,

by D. MacKenzie p. 52

Loud Speaker Developments, by F. B. Jewett p. 52

Composite Telegraphy and Telephony, by J. H. Bell p. 52

Planning a Big Business Ahead, by S. L. Andrew p. 53

Telegraphy and Telephony, Composite, by J. H. Bell, Note on July, p. 5

Telephone's Development, The, by John J. Carty April, p. 23

Telephone Pioneers of America, Ninth Meeting of the October, p. 63

Telephone Service, Dr. Bell's Appreciation of the October, p. 65

Telephone Situation in Great Britain, The Recent Parliamentary In-
vestigation of the, by S. L. Andrew July, p. 23

Telephony, Composite Telegraphy and, by J. H. Bell, Note on July, p. 52

Thayer, H. B. : Foreword April, p. 1

Thayer, H. B.: What Are We Trying To Do? July, p. 1

Theo. N. Vail Honored by Old Time Telegraphers July, p. 64

Trueblood, H. M.: The Relation of the Petersen System of Grounding
Power Networks to Inductive Effects in Neighboring Communication
Circuits, Note on October, p. 59

Vacuum Tube, A New Type of High Power, by Dr. W. Wilson, Note on

October, p. 61

Vail, Theo. N., Honored by Old Time Telegraphers July, p. 64

Voltage-Current Relation in Central Anode Photo-Electric Cells, The, by

Herbert E. Ives and Thornton C. Fry, Note on October, p. 58

Waterson, K. W.: Service in the Making October, p. 26

Wave Length, Static Interference as a Function of, by II . T. Friis and

L. J. Sivian, Note on October, p. 57

Wegel, R. L.: The Physcial Examination of Hearing and Binaural Aids

for the Deaf, Note on July, p. 51

Wegel, R. L. and H. Fletcher: The Frequency-Sensitivity of Normal Ears,

Note on October, p. 56

Wente, E. C: The Sensitivity and Precision of the Electrostatic Trans-
mitter for Measuring Sound Intensities, Note on October, p. 60

Western Electric Company, Organization Changes April, p. 64

What Are We Trying To Do? by H. B. Thayer July, p. 1

Wilson, Eugene S., Vice President, New York Telephone Company . April, p. 63
Wilson, W.: A New Type of High Power Vacuum Tube, Note on. .October, p. 61

Wisconsin, Subscriber Ownership in July, p. 61

Wisconsin Telephone Company, Organization Changes. April, p. 64

Work of the Bell Telephone Securities Company, The, by D. F. Houston

April, p. 13

World Electric Communication, Address by John J. Carty April, p. 57

World's Telephone Statistics, by S. L. Andrew October, p. 45

Yama Farms Conference of Presidents of Bell System, June, 1922 (Il-
lustration) July, opp. p. 1

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